Guide You Home - The Forgotten Arc
by GatewaysToInfinity
Summary: Based on the RPG Horror Game "Ib," young girl Kiara finds herself trapped in Darkrai's World of Nightmares. She soon discovers she's not the only person stuck here, but will she be able to differentiate who's her friend and who's her enemy? As her memories of her real life start to slip away, will Kiara be able to find a way out and back to her waking life before it's too late?
1. Prologue

The forest felt oddly different. Though the leaves still swayed in the summer breeze and the atmosphere was as serene as it had always been, it was not the same home Wolf had grown accustomed to. What made it worse was that Kiara had been asleep for a long time now. He wouldn't have been worried if she had only been asleep for a day at most, but it had been much longer than that. A total of three days had passed so far since she had settled down amongst her make-shift nest to sleep off her grief.

After the first day, Wolf had decided to let the girl sleep in a bit later. After all, who knew what kind of mood she would wake up in? However, he had decided he should try to wake her once she no longer looked peaceful in her slumber. She had been tossing and turning in her sleep, carrying looks of pain and fear on her face in the process. However, when he violently shook her, she wouldn't even give the slightest response to it. It was almost as if she were trapped in her slumber. Wolf had even gone as far as pouring a cup of water onto her head, but she didn't react in the slightest to that either.

At this point Wolf was truly afraid for his friend. His anxieties grew when mumbling in her sleep had been added to the list of things she did. He would hear her say things like "Stop!" or "Help me!" or "Garry!" It made Wolf wonder what was going on in her head. There was even a moment when he heard her crying in her sleep. It was then he knew he had to find an old friend to help.

Wolf now was slinking through the forest, his eyes scanning the area for a familiar orange body. He had left Vulpix with Kiara so he could report anything if she did happen to wake up, though he highly doubted it. His eyes flashed to the right as he heard a rustle in the bushes. He let out a hopefully gasp as he saw a long, thin black tail with a yellow lightning bolt shape at the end poking out of the undergrowth. "Hey Raichu!" he called out.

The tendril-like tail twitched at the call and suddenly a large, orange mouse head popped out of the bushes with a confused gaze. However its eyes brightened upon seeing Wolf. "Rai rai!" he greeted as he stomped out of the undergrowth to meet the boy.

Wolf smiled warmly at the mouse Pokémon. Memories of when this Raichu played with Kiara as a Pichu back in Kangaskhan's den flashed in his head. However, he quickly pushed the happy thoughts away. There were more important matters to attend to. "It's good to see you too. But I really need your help. Kiara's in trouble," he explained quickly in a serious tone.

Raichu's eyes widened at hearing that something was wrong with his old friend. "Raichu!" he exclaimed as he took a step back and nodded to Wolf, as if signaling for him to lead the way.

Wolf blinked at him gratefully and turned away without hesitation back to where he had left Vulpix and Kiara. He was glad that he had learned the territory of the forest very well over the years of living here; otherwise he would feel just as lost as he had been the first night he and Kiara had left the orphanage. It didn't take long until he arrived at the small clearing with Raichu at his heels. _I hope this works…_

Vulpix turned his head to face Wolf once he had entered the clearing, his eyes full of concern and sorrow. He quickly turned his gaze back to the girl who continued to writhe in her sleep.

Wolf flinched upon seeing Kiara, even though it shouldn't have been a surprise to him at this point. She was still mumbling now, thought it was more just gibberish than actual words at the moment. He sighed before turning to face Raichu. "Alright, as you can see, Kiara's sleeping. She's been asleep for a very long time but nothing I do will wake her. It's like she's trapped in a nightmare or something…So that's why I've come to you. I was hoping that maybe if you shock her, just a little…It might be enough to awaken her," the boy explained.

The mouse Pokémon stared at the writhing girl as Wolf explained the situation, his eyes wide with shock and grief. Once he had finished, he stared at Kiara for a moment longer before turning to face the boy and giving him a nod of determination. "Rai Raichu!" he promised. With that, Raichu gently reached his tail towards Kiara and placed the tip on her arm. Taking a deep breath, the mouse Pokémon clenched his paws and shut his eyes, summoning his electric power to his aid.

Wolf saw Raichu's yellow cheek pouches flash with sparks for a brief moment until it was followed by a sudden, but light, charge onto the girl's arm. With that, the mouse Pokémon opened his eyes and relaxed, bringing his tail back to him as the three now watched silently, hoping for some sort of change in Kiara's condition.

A flicker of hope flashed inside Wolf as Kiara suddenly jerked in her slumber, but it soon faded as he realized it probably had nothing to do with what Raichu had done to her. Fear was apparent in her face as she suddenly let out a wail. "No! Stay away from me!"

Wolf and the two Pokémon all looked taken aback. The boy proceeded to look defeated, as if he really had no other bright ideas to solve this problem. Perhaps there was nothing he could do, and whatever was causing this was like a virus. Maybe it just had to run its course and it would go away eventually. He sure hoped that was the case. What if Kiara never woke up again? Would he end up losing another person he cared about? As he watched Raichu settle himself next to Kiara in her nest and curl his tail around her, Wolf sent off a silent prayer to his father. _Please Dad, help Kiara come back to us safely!_


	2. Chapter One

Kiara slowly blinked her violet eyes open. Oddly enough, she didn't feel tired as she woke up like she normally did. Blinking several times to clear her vision, she slowly got to her feet. Something didn't feel right. "Wolf?" she called out but got no response. She recalled sleeping out in the forest, but this was different. As her eyes finally focused on her surroundings, she soon realized she was not where she had fallen asleep.

She was surrounded by a forest, but not her home. The grass and other undergrowth had a dark, blue-green look to them, though others carried a shadowy, grey-green color. The trunks and branches were a grey-brown color, while most trunks bore gaping hollows like the one tree she and Wolf had used to hide from the Zangoose pack. Kiara looked up towards the sky. It was completely pitch-black. Was it nighttime? It seemed like the logical idea, but the girl found not a single star or the moon in the dark sky. There wasn't even a cloud to possibly block out the galaxy above from view. _What is this place?_ she wondered in confusion. "Maybe I can get a better look from up above in the trees," she mumbled to herself.

Kiara scanned the surrounding vegetation, searching for the easiest tree to climb. Spotting one with large, gnarled roots and branches, she quickly scurried towards it. However, as she prepared to leap onto it, her memory failed her. How did she climb trees again? Alarm flashed in her mind. She had just climbed tree with ease the other day! Not to mention she's done it years before that. How could she have already forgotten? She sighed, deciding she wouldn't risk it if she couldn't even remember how to climb the trunk. She quickly stepped away from the tree and returned to the spot where she had awoken.

The girl soon noticed it was in the middle of a path. Both ways led into more of this strange forest. As she debated what to do next, a sudden thought occurred to her. She had no memory at all of how she had gotten to this place, and this forest was so surreal. _Am I dreaming?_ It would be the most logical explanation. After all, no one ever remembers falling asleep and entering a dream. It would also explain why she couldn't recall how to climb trees, since in the past she's forgotten things in her dreams before. If it was all just a dream, then there was no harm in exploring until she woke up, right? Shrugging, Kiara veered to the left and went off in that direction of the path.

Kiara walked along, glancing around at her surroundings every so often. This forest certainly was odd. There was no breeze, no birdsong…At this point she would be frightened if she did hear normal forest sounds around her. All was eerily silent as she continued on. Her eyes flashed as she suddenly spotted something strange wedged into the ground on the side of the path. Strolling towards it, Kiara noticed it was a wooden sign. However, she stared at it in confusion as she noticed there was nothing written on it. _Weird…_ she grumbled in her mind before shrugging and turning away to continue along the path. Suddenly a splatter behind Kiara startled her and she turned around in bewilderment. Her eyes immediately focused the sign. There was writing on it now. Hesitantly, she crept back towards it and read its contents.

The writing looked to be written in a purple paint that was still dripping wet. Kiara felt a chill run down her spine as she read it.

__  
>"W-Who wrote this?" Kiara whispered to herself in confusion. "Hello? Is someone there?" she called out, only to receive silence as a response. There was no one else here as far as Kiara could see, so who could've written this while also knowing her name? Then again, this was a dream. Nothing that happened here necessarily had to make sense. She slowly shrugged it off before turning away to continue on her way, though the message on the sign still remained at the back of her mind.<p>

Kiara continued walking along in the ominous atmosphere. There were no lights and certainly no sun, so she wondered how it was lit in this place. She followed along the path as it suddenly made a sharp left turn. It didn't take long until she fell upon a small clearing. She blinked in surprise at seeing this clearing actually look like a normal forest, the undergrowth retaining its natural colors. As she took a few steps forward into this clearing, she jumped in surprise as a fruit suddenly fell from a tree ahead of her. Tilting her head, she trotted forward and bent down a bit to look at it. It was an orange, though now it was squashed from the fall. Nothing too unusual.

Kiara spotted another path to her left and decided to follow it. Once again the forest returned to its ominous state as she trotted along, her footsteps the only sound she heard in the process. Within a few moments she found herself in another clearing, though this one was murkier and creepier than the surrounding area. In its center was a dark blue pool. _Is that…water? It looks so…coarse and deep… _she thought as she stepped towards the wooden fence that surrounded the pool. She scanned the perimeter to see if there was a closer way in, but it seemed as if the fence didn't have an opening. Shrugging, she decided to move on.

Walking around the fence, Kiara could spot another path not far off. However something else caught her attention. It was another blank wooden sign wedged in the ground next to the fence. Kiara didn't bother stopping to check it, though she braced herself for another sudden splatter so she wouldn't be startled again. It never came as she reached the path and left the clearing, though she glanced back at the sign anyways just in case, though it remained unchanged.

Kiara walked along the path yet again, wondering why this dream as so long and why she hadn't woken up yet. She stumbled upon yet another clearing, though unlike the last two this one looked just like the rest of the forest. What was strange about it was that to her right Kiara saw what looked like a small, cube house made out of metal. It looked raggedy, however, as the metal seemed to be peeling off the base like paper. The ramshackle house was held up off the ground by a wooden porch, which seemed oddly brand new compared to the rest of the building. She gazed around the clearing, wondering if there was anyone that might be dwelling in this home in her dreams. _No one's around…_ she thought in disappointment. Even though this was just a dream, she felt extremely lonely, and even the company of some dream figure would be enough to keep her anxious mind at ease.

Kiara trotted towards the wooden steps that led up to the porch and front door of this building. It couldn't hurt to investigate until she woke up. Walking towards the ramshackle door, she reached for the knob and attempted to turn it. "Locked…" she muttered as she let go of the handle. She glanced around, spotting a window not far off to the left of the door. She quickly strode towards it and peered inside. The window itself was tinted, so Kiara could hardly see anything inside. She noticed however that the lock switch on the windowsill wasn't secured, but as she tried to open the window it wouldn't budge. "Oh well…" she shrugged as she let go of the window's frame and prepared to back away. Just as she did however there was a sudden loud banging against the glass, sending Kiara to fall backwards in fear. She shakily rose to her feet once it was over and hesitantly approached the window again. There was a hand print mark on the glass now. The girl didn't linger around the house any longer, suddenly no longer wishing there was someone else here with her.

Kiara scrambled back down the stairs, her eyes focusing on yet another path straight ahead. As she walked along it, she started to feel anxious. She knew very well that this was a dream, unlike when she had been hoping it was a dream when Kangaskhan had been taken away. However, now she was starting to have her doubts. This didn't feel like an ordinary dream or nightmare. Every nightmare she's had before she would always manage to wake up suddenly during the climax, which occurred rather quickly. Everything here just felt…like a trap of some sort that didn't want her to awaken. As Kiara made a sharp left turn with the path, she wondered how much longer it would be until she woke up. Every second was starting to feel like an hour. She didn't want to be here anymore.

Kiara suddenly slowed her pace as she examined her surroundings. This part of the forest looked familiar. Her violet eyes widened as she spotted the gnarled tree from before. She had walked in a complete circle and was back where she had started! She had followed the path the whole time though…Perhaps it was just the layout of this territory. Now what? she muttered in her mind. This meant unless she veered off the paths, there was nowhere else to go, and she wasn't going to risk doing that. Sighing, she decided she would search all the clearings again and hope something had changed.

Kiara moved along the paths swiftly now. She didn't like the atmosphere of this place and just wanted to wake up with Wolf and Vulpix. It didn't take long for her to return to the clearing with the normal-colored undergrowth and the squashed orange. Nothing. Snorting, she quickly scampered to the next path and moved on.

Kiara scurried along the pathway and within a few moments she had returned to the murky clearing with the even murkier pool of water. She began to walk around the perimeter of the fence, praying for something, even just a misplaced leaf. She recalled the blank sign hopefully. Maybe there was something written on it now! As she headed in the direction of it, she noticed something else before she reached it. A segment of the fence was missing, allowing a way into the pool. Just to the left of this opening was the wooden sign, purple writing now splattered across it. Kiara walked towards it and read the dripping paint.

_Come Kiara. I'll show you someplace secret._

The girl blinked in confusion as her eyes wandered to the pool. Past the fence, Kiara saw blue footprints leading into the water and vanishing. An idea suddenly hit her. Whenever she went into water or fell from a high place in her dreams, she would instantly wake up. All she had to do was go into this pool and she would awaken! Without another thought Kiara ran towards the pool and dove in, grateful that she at least remembered how to swim. Her eyes fell upon darkness as she held her breath. She could feel herself sinking to the bottom of this pool until she suddenly was out of the water and landed on solid ground. Gravity dragged her downhill and she didn't get the opportunity to examine her surrounds until she was standing on leveled ground.

Kiara gazed around in confusion. She looked back the way she had come. It was a hill path that met with a horizontal path, leading in two different directions. This hill path back up the hill seemed to lead into…a water pool in the sky? Was that the same pool she had jumped into? This is too weird… The water looked like some sort of portal that led deeper into this dream world. Kiara let out a groan as she turned back around. She had run out of ideas. What more could she do? It was obvious that she couldn't just wake up from this dream like she wanted, and she certainly wasn't going to wait around in this creepy forest until she did. Her only option left was to move forward and hope for the best. Sighing, she looked to the path in front of her. She could either go left or right. Shrugging, she chose the left and continued on her way.

Kiara trotted on the pathway, blocking out her surroundings at this point. She didn't know how long she'd be here and she didn't want to get startled by every little thing in the process. A few moments later she fell upon a small clearing, the path she was on being its only entrance and exit. In its center was a white, wooden sign with black writing on it. Next to it was a small wooden table with some sort of black machine on it. She scampered towards it, curiosity getting the better of her.

The machine on the table looked like an old-fashioned yet modern sewing machine. _What's something like this doing out here?_ she wondered as she suddenly noticed something else on the table next to the sewing machine. Upon closer examination Kiara noticed it was a small stuffed voodoo doll. It had pale skin, thin, black yarn for hair, black stitches for a mouth, and wore an outfit that consisted of a white dress shirt, and a purple tie and skirt. These complemented the big violet buttons it had for eyes. _Wait a minute…_ This doll looked exactly like Kiara! "W-Why…" she trailed off, at a loss for words. It was creepy and awesome at the same time. After all, it wasn't everyday you saw a doll of yourself. Something in the back of her mind told her that this doll was important, so Kiara grabbed it off the table and got a closer look at it.

The violet buttons met with her violet eyes blankly. It looked like a normal doll minus looking just like Kiara. She turned it over a few times, suddenly spotting a tear in its right arm. "Ouch!" the girl yelped in pain unexpectedly, glancing at her own right arm in confusion. There was now a thin, bleeding cut on it. "H-How…" she asked herself shakily. Her gaze automatically fell upon the sewing machine. _Maybe it can fix it…I don't know how to use a sewing machine though…_ she thought as she placed the doll underneath the black machinery.

Just as she was about to start contemplating what to do next, the machine suddenly sucked the doll up through a tube. Kiara stared at the machine as it seemed to do its own thing with a baffled expression. Suddenly the sound of turning gears and working machinery came to a halt as the sewing machine spat the doll back out. Right afterwards the machine shut down, the red light at the top turning off. As she grabbed the doll again, she noticed it no longer bore the tear on its arm. In that same moment Kiara felt the pain on her own arm vanish. Glancing at it she discovered that her sudden cut had gone as quickly as it had appeared, as if it were never there in the first place. _This dream just keeps getting weirder and weirder…_ she thought, deciding that she would keep this doll with her. Now all that was left to examine was the sign.

Kiara turned towards it, noticing slightly to her relief that the writing didn't look as if it had just been painted on. Taking a breath, she decided to read it out loud. "'If the doll…you too will…' I don't know some of these words," she mumbled to herself with a shrug. Seeing as there was nothing left in this clearing, Kiara decided to retrace her steps and go right this time. However, just as she was about to turn away, red paint suddenly splattered onto the white sign and wrote over the original writing. She stared at it with wide eyes. This was the first time she had witnessed the sudden paint splatter, and even now she didn't feel like she had witnessed anything. It had literally just appeared in front of her out of nowhere, with no sign of anyone else to have painted on the sign. Once again Kiara had to remind herself that this was a dream and nothing had to make sense. Otherwise she'd have to question every little thing that happened here. Sighing, she read the new writing on the sign.

** F****  
><strong>  
>Kiara felt a chill run down her spine. <em>Do they mean…the doll? Well there's no way I'm gonna give it back…<em> she thought as she slowly backed away from the clearing center and returned to the path with her doll in hand.

The girl did just as she had wanted and retraced her steps, though she was still feeling slightly anxious after reading the last message. She continued on the path until she reached the area where she had first gotten here. However, her eyes widened as suddenly the hill path and pool of water vanished, turning into undergrowth and leaving the path Kiara stood on to be the only one left at the moment. Thought she hadn't planned on going back, she would've at least liked to keep the option if she changed her mind. Sighing, she knew she couldn't mope around about it and did the only thing she could do: move forward.

Kiara continued onward, glad that nothing unusual seemed to be happening at the moment. Her hopes faltered as she spotted something up ahead in her path. As she neared it, it became clear to her vision, though what she saw just made her clutch her doll tightly to her.

The trees ahead seemed to merge together at the tops, twining their branches together and blocking the pitch-black sky from view. From these intertwined branches hung red ropes of some sort, and hanging at the ends of these ropes were dolls. Thankfully unlike her own doll Kiara did not recognize anyone in the dolls that hung motionlessly from their ankles.

Kiara quickened her pace, wanting to get out of there as quickly as possible. Though they were just dolls, they still gave her a feeling of dread. She jumped back in terror as one of the hanging dolls suddenly fell down from the ropes and landed right in front of her. _I-It's just a doll on the ground…Nothing creepy about that…_ she quickly walked around it, clutching her doll ever tighter. Up ahead was a doll hanging so low that it nearly touched the ground. J_ust a doll dangling from a rope…_ she reassured herself as she walked around it and swiftly moved on, letting out a sigh of relief once the hanging dolls were far behind her.

Kiara arrived at what seemed to be an intersection of the path she was already in. She hoped she wouldn't get too lost as she took a few steps forward, gazing around with curious eyes. She veered to her left, quickly seeing that this path didn't lead anywhere. However the hollow of one of the trees caught her attention as she strode towards it.

Kiara immediately spotted big, red menacing eyes from within the darkness of the hollow. Matching it was a wiggling red tongue. Just as she neared it, it suddenly spat something out onto the ground in front of her. The girl looked down at a small purple liquid that had appeared which bubbled slightly. She veered around it, deciding it wouldn't be the best idea to step into this ooze. She continued on towards the hollow until she was peering inside, looking at the red eyes. However whatever creature was hiding in there didn't seem to take any notice of her. Its tongue keeps wiggling… she thought as she examined it for a moment longer before backing away from the tree and the strange creature within it. Making sure to avoid the acidic goop, Kiara went back and went off to the right this time instead.

It didn't take long before Kiara noticed this was also a dead end, but before she could examine it for something like the creature in the tree, she noticed a sign not far off. She quickly scampered towards it and read the big black letters written across it.

**BEWARE OF HAUNTER****  
><strong>  
>Kiara tilted her head in confusion. "Haunter? Like the Pokémon Haunter?" she wondered aloud, recalling back to her studies. In the back of her mind it didn't surprise her that ghost Pokémon would be involved in this strange dream. She shrugged and decided she would investigate this dead end before going back.<p>

At the far end of this path Kiara spotted a tree that was larger than the others. It also bore a much larger hollow. As she neared it she spotted large, white menacing eyes inside the hollow, though unlike the last one she spotted, this one bore a red mouth instead of a wiggling tongue. She neared closer to the tree, wondering if this one would spit purple liquid at her or do something different.

The white eyes in the hollow focused on Kiara as she approached it. "Hungry…Give food…" the mouth croaked and suddenly a purple hand dashed out from the hollow and tore off Kiara's doll's left arm before tossing it into its mouth, crunching it loudly.

Kiara stumbled back in shock for several reasons. One, this Haunter she assumed had just spoken, even if its speech wasn't proper. Second, it had just torn off her doll's arm and eaten it! She gazed at her own arm fearfully, wondering if her limb would fall off or vanish like her doll's had. Thankfully it didn't, but it didn't help that there was a now a searing pain in her arm. She tried her best to ignore it as she backed away and scurried off. She returned to the intersection of the paths, deciding to go forward this time instead.

Kiara continued forward, her left arm bothering her even if she didn't move it. She hoped there would be another one of those sewing machines up ahead so she could fix her doll and get rid of the pain. Disappointment hit her like a wave as she entered a small, dead end clearing. Something was off about it, however, though at this point it didn't even surprise her. She gazed around at the tiny trees that covered the area, only to realize these weren't trees at all. They were sculptures. She headed towards the center with an inquiring gaze, spotting a sign wedged into the ground next to the center tree. She walked over to it and bent closer so she could read the black writing on it.

_Apple Born of a Tree.___

At that same moment Kiara suddenly jumped back as an apple fell off from the center tree and onto the ground. However unlike the orange from before this fruit didn't get squashed upon impact. In fact, it wasn't even a real apple. It was wooden, Kiara examined as she picked it up off the ground. She looked around, seeing that the only exit from this clearing was the way she had come. What now? she thought in confusion. There was nowhere else for her to go. As she gazed down at the wooden apple in her hand, a sudden idea hit her. "Maybe…If I give that Haunter this apple since it was hungry…something will happen," she thought aloud hopefully as she turned away and made her way back to the dead end path that led her to the large tree hollow.

Kiara reached it again within several moments, hesitantly approaching the hollow that still bore the menacing white eyes and red mouth.

The Haunter's white eyes focused on the fake apple that Kiara held in her hand. "Hungry…Give food…That food…give to me…" it rumbled, its eyes widened with delight. It stuck out a purple hand, and Kiara didn't hesitate to place the wooden apple inside it. Within moments the Haunter popped it into its mouth and crunched on it loudly. "This tasty…I let you pass now…Go through the tree…" suddenly the gas Pokémon vanished, revealing an empty hollow. As Kiara peered inside, she noticed that there as another opening on the opposite side of the trunk, as if something had pierced right through the tree and left an open wound.

Kiara let out a sigh. Her objective was to move forward and this seemed to be the only way. As she began to climb inside the hollow, wincing at the pain her arm, she sent off a prayer to her friends back in the waking world. _Wolf…Vulpix…I hope I wake up and see you guys soon…_


	3. Chapter Two

Kiara grunted as she climbed out the other side of the hollow. She stood there for a moment so the pain in her arm could settle down a bit before she continued. She really needed a sewing machine to fix her doll soon or her arm would be as useless as if it weren't even there. Sighing, she gazed around at her new surroundings.

It was another intersection of paths surrounded by the same ominous forest. _What else is new?_ she muttered in her mind before deciding to go to the left first. She tried her best to avoid stressing her arm, but the pain still continued. Kiara snorted in annoyance when she noticed this path was an empty dead end. There weren't even any creatures lurking in tree hollows here. Sighing in exasperation, she turned back around and decided to go straight ahead this time.

Kiara continued forward in near silence, her footsteps being the only sound echoing through this eerie atmosphere. She let out a yawn, all of this walking around surely draining her energy. Her eyes widened upon seeing a small cube building up ahead, the path leading right up to its front door. It was made of grey plaster and bore a wooden door. There were no windows on any side of this building as far as she could see as she walked up the few metal steps to the door. They creaked as she put her weight on them and Kiara soon noticed they were rusted and old. She approached the door and attempted to open it and as she had been expecting, it was locked tight. "I wonder if there's a key somewhere nearby…" she mumbled to herself as she retreated back down the steps, knowing there was still one pathway she had yet to explore.

It took Kiara a while to return to where the paths intersected, her pace slowed due to her exhaustion and pain, both slowly sapping at her strength. Once she turned onto the right path, she could easily see it was a dead end like the path opposite. However, at the far end Kiara spotted a large tree hollow. Even from where she stood she saw the maniacal red eyes gleaming from within. It bore no mouth as far as she could tell; either that or its mouth was closed and hidden in the darkness. A sudden gleam below the tree's hollow at its base caught the girl's attention. Her eyes brightened hopefully as she neared it and realized what was sitting on the ground. _A key!_ Kiara didn't hesitate to scamper towards it and snatch it off the ground, not realizing that the red eyes inside the hollow were following her the entire time. "Now to get back to the house and—"

A sudden growl interrupted her, followed by a thud onto the ground. In the process a shadow rushed over Kiara for a brief moment, causing the girl to whip around in confusion. Standing there on all fours was some kind of purple creature. Upon first glance it looked like a Gengar, especially with the broad smile it bore full of white teeth. However, it looked different. It was standing on four legs instead of two and there was a third yellow eye on its forehead. It was staring at the girl with hostility and Kiara glanced up to see that the hollow behind her was now empty. _I-It jumped out…_ her eyes once again focused on the shadow Pokémon standing in front of her. She yelped and veered to her right as the Gengar suddenly pounced at her, its claws scoring the bark of the tree she had stood in front of a moment before. All her previous fears about this place hit her in an instant. "No! Stay away from me!" she wailed as she broke into a run and dashed away from the creature as quickly as she could with the key and doll in hand.

Kiara heard the Gengar crawling swiftly after her, the sound of it sending chills rushing up and down her spine. She dared to glance back and looked bewildered as the creature seemed to follow after her in a confusing manner. It was as if this monster didn't have a clear sense of direction. She didn't mind this at all, glad that she would probably be able to make it to the house without the shadow Pokémon getting to her. However this chase wasn't doing anything good for her arm. The pain had become so bad that it had numbed and she could hardly feel her limb anymore. Her eyes brightened when the house was in sight and the Gengar was far behind her, though it still tried to catch up with her.

Kiara dashed up the metal steps and shoved the key into the door knob, relishing the click she heard as it unlocked as she twisted it. She quickly removed the key before opening the door and rushing inside, slamming it behind her. She didn't relax until she relocked the door and slumped onto the ground in exhaustion. The girl panted heavily as she laid her back against the entrance. "This place is awful! I hate it here! I just wanna be back home!" she cried to herself in despair.

Kiara flinched and scooted away from the door as she suddenly heard a loud banging against it. She assumed the Gengar had caught up to her and was now trying to get inside as it scratched and pounded violently against the entrance. _But isn't it a ghost-type Pokémon? Shouldn't it just be able to faze through walls?_ she wondered in confusion, though she was glad that it didn't do that. She had no means of defense against this creature, especially not in her exhausted state. The ruckus against the door slowly became quieter as the shadow Pokémon gave up trying to get inside, much to the girl's relief.

Kiara let out a sigh and fell onto her back, staring up at the ceiling as she heard footsteps outside the door fade away. She tossed the key across the room, seeing no use for it anymore and placed her doll onto her stomach. Up until now she hadn't even paid attention to what the inside of this building looked like. It was single-roomed, containing many small bookcases and a small lamp which sat on top of the shelves, lighting up the room. She stretched her neck back as she saw another door across the room, though through her gaze it was upside down. She rolled over onto her stomach, causing the door to look right side up again. The girl sighed, knowing that was probably the next place she had to go if she wanted to keep moving forward. Using her stable arm, she pushed herself back on her feet while grabbing her doll with her stinging arm.

Kiara took a quick look around the room, seeing if there would be anything important in here before she continued on. Her eyes flicked to the right, spotting a sign hanging on the wall above one of the bookcases. She trotted towards it, reading the neat, black writing written across it.

_ N?_

"No," Kiara growled in irritation, feeling a sense of mockery in this message. She soon left the sign behind and headed for the door, opening it immediately and glad it wasn't locked. She met with the forest once more, sighing as she exited the building and closed the door behind her. "I just wanna wake up…" she said sadly as she hung her head for a moment hopelessly. She swiftly shook her head to clear it though, knowing that feeling sorry for herself wasn't going to do anything for her. Lifting her head up, her mood suddenly brightened as she saw a horizontal path leading to the left and right of where she stood. However, it was what stood in the middle of this path that filled her with joy. A sewing machine! She could finally fix her doll and rid herself of this pain.

Kiara quickly scrambled towards it, hardly noticing that this sewing machine was blue instead of black like the other one. She immediately placed her doll underneath the tube, smiling gleefully as the machine sucked it up. After a moment of seeing the machinery work, it spat the doll back out, but unlike the previous sewing machine this one didn't shut down. The girl quickly retrieved her doll, filled with happiness as she saw that it had its arm back. At that same moment, the pain in her own arm was relieved and she felt her energy return to her. _Thank Arceus! I don't think I would've been able to take another step if this machine hadn't shown up,_ she sighed as she thought. Just like her strength she felt her motivation to keep going return to her. She looked down both pathways before veering to the left and continuing on through the forest.

It didn't take long until Kiara found herself in a small clearing. It reminded her of one of the forest clearings she had found before, since to her right she spotted a small house sustained off the ground by a small, rusted metal porch. However before she could reach it she spotted a small wooden table closer by with a black sewing machine on it. There was a white sign with black writing wedged into the ground next to it. It reminded her of the scenario when she had found her doll. She scurried towards it, noticing that the sewing machine was shut down. She glanced towards the sign and read its contents aloud. "'When the doll…so too will you…away.'" She sighed, slightly irritated with herself for not knowing some of these words. "'You and the doll are…Know the weight of your own life,'" she continued, feeling overall déjà vu from this atmosphere. Shrugging the feeling off, the girl stepped away from the sign and table and headed off towards the house.

Kiara trotted towards the building, noticing scattered clumps of doll stuffing on the grass in the process. She became more confused and slightly anxious upon noticing a part of the grass was stained with blood. Shrugging, she walked up the small amount of steps and headed towards the front door, only to find that it was locked. She glanced to her left, seeing a window not far off. Reluctantly after her last experience with a window, she crept towards it and peeked inside. It was slightly tinted white, but as she pressed her face against the glass she could somewhat see clearly inside. She fought the urge to back away upon seeing another one of those strange Gengar inside, though this one looked even more different. While also walking on four legs, it was pure white, and its eyes were grey, minus the third one on its forehead that was still yellow. The shadow Pokémon seemed to be chewing on something, distracting it from her as she peered inside. She squinted to try to make out what it was and her eyes widened as she noticed it was a doll, though she couldn't distinguish the features. Does that mean someone else is here? she wondered, not sure if she would be happy or not encountering someone else in this strange world. Backing away from the window, seeing as there wasn't anything she could do about it at this given moment, she decided she would head back and go to the right of the sewing machine.

Kiara scampered back down the steps and exited the clearing, soon returning to where the blue sewing machine sat now that her energy had returned to her. She continued on past it and down the path leisurely, not seeing anything too unusual as of now. That promptly changed however, as the girl spotted something lying on the ground up ahead in the middle of the path. Hesitantly, she slowly plodded towards it, noticing that as she got close it was a body. As she got ever closer, she started to take note of its features. It was a young man with lavender-like hair, bits of it a darker shade of this color. He wore a long blue coat with the ends torn up and tan pants. She couldn't see his facial features as he was laying face down, but she crouched next to him and gently poked his arm. She flinched in surprise as she saw him move ever so slightly to the tap.

The young man writhed faintly. "…Ugh…" he uttered as if it were a struggle.

Kiara blinked in disbelief and curiosity. Was he a real human here, just like her? She carefully looked over his body for anything that might reveal what was wrong with him, but saw nothing. What did she did find was a key that he was tightly holding on to. The girl gently reached for it and pulled it out of his hand with ease. _I wonder if this goes to the door that was locked back in that other clearing…_ she thought as she returned her gaze to the young man. She hesitated for a moment before calling out to him. "Excuse me..." her voice was shaky, as if she were afraid that he really wasn't like her and was like the monsters of this world.

"…Ugh…" he repeated, the tone of his voice having a sting to it. "…It…hurts…" he hissed under his breath.

_He's in pain…_ Kiara realized. Though she couldn't see any wounds on him, she could tell by his posture that he was aching. She reluctantly got to her feet again. She didn't want to leave him here, but she knew there was nothing she could really do to help him. "Maybe there's something up ahead that'll help…" she wondered to herself aloud before turning away from the man and moving on down the path.

Kiara walked along in silence and within moments she found herself in an empty clearing. To her left she could see that there was another path she could take, but as she neared it, she saw something blocking the way. It was a small, strange-looking tree with the roots out of the ground. The girl attempted to move it out of her way to no avail, the weight of it being too heavy for her. She let out a sigh of bewilderment. If this way was blocked off, the only other place she could go to was back at the house, assuming the key she had just obtained opened the door to it. It won't hurt to try, she thought as she turned away from the clearing and went back the way she had come.

Kiara paused as she walked by the young man again. _If I go and open that door, the Gengar will probably attack me…I can't risk getting my doll hurt like last time,_ she blinked, making a risky decision but going along with it nonetheless. She crouched in front of the man before taking her doll and placing it under his arm. "Watch my doll for me. I'll be right back," she whispered gently, though she doubted he could hear her in his weird state of consciousness.

Kiara moved on, passing the blue sewing machine once more, until she arrived at the clearing with the house again. She didn't hesitate to walk up the steps and stick the key into the doorknob, both relieved and stressed to see the door unlock as she twisted it. She slowly opened the door and entered the building, leaving the door open in case she had to make a quick escape. The girl was met with a wall, but to her left she saw a room open up, the room with the Gengar chewing on the doll. She noticed more stuffing clumps leading up to the shadow Pokémon, presumably from the doll it gnawed on. Now that she was inside, Kiara could clearly see the doll's features, noticing that it looked a lot like the semi-unconscious man from before. _This Gengar probably stole his doll, and that's why he was in so much pain…_ she shuddered, unable to even imagine what would happen to her if her own doll had been taken like that. She took a deep breath, knowing that she'd have to snatch the doll from the monster and escape before it got to her. She took a few light steps into the room.

The Gengar immediately whipped its head around upon hearing Kiara enter the room. It bared its teeth in a snarl before abandoning its meal and charging right for her.

Kiara yelped and quickly swerved around the shadow Pokémon, glad that it had the same lumbering movements the previous Gengar had. She immediately dove for the torn doll, scooping it and its entrails into her arms before veering out of the way of the charging monster, just scarcely avoiding its claws. She sprinted back for the door, immediately heading out of the building and shutting it behind her, panting with relief. However, just as she was about to relax, she heard a loud pounding to her right and a sudden crash as the Gengar burst through the window, breaking the glass and landing on the porch. She quickly propelled herself forward and rushed down the steps, hearing the Gengar follow after her. However as she reached the path again, she glanced back to see the shadow Pokémon pacing back and forth a few yards back, as if something were stopping it from following her any farther. She didn't wait around any longer, glad that the creature couldn't keep chasing her for whatever reason.

Kiara took a moment to catch her breath as she reached the blue sewing machine once again. She looked down at the somewhat destroyed doll in her hands, seeing that its design was like her own doll, except this one looked like the man instead of herself. Gathering the pieces together, she gently placed it under the tube of the machine and waited for mechanism to work its magic. It sucked up the doll like it always did, fixing it for a moment before spitting it back out. The sewing machine did not shut down this time either as the girl retrieved the doll, grinning with satisfaction as she saw that it no longer looked like it was falling apart and rather brand new. Now she had to return to the man and see if he were feeling better now like she had when she had fixed her own doll.

Kiara scampered off somewhat excitedly down the path, filled to the brim with hope. Not only would he be okay if his doll was fixed, but it would mean Kiara wasn't the only one here. She wouldn't be alone anymore! She quickened her pace as she spotted his body lying on the ground where she had left it and halted once she was in front of him. She crouched onto her stomach, trying to see this man's face and if he would wake up. Just before she could poke his head, he started to move.

"Mmm…" the young man mumbled as he slowly opened his eyes and pushed himself to his knees, staring at the ground in bewilderment. "…What's this? The pain's gone…" he grumbled in confusion before looking up at Kiara, abruptly noticing she was there. "Eeek!" he exclaimed as he suddenly jumped back and to his feet, his gaze furious. "W-What is it _now?!_ T-There's nothing left for you to take I tell you!" he growled with hostility.

The man's sudden burst startled Kiara, causing her to scramble back onto her bottom, clutching his doll in confusion.

The young man suddenly blinked a few times, his pale green eyes widening as if he had been expecting something else. "Wait…Dear me, you're not one of the monsters…" he said in confusion and almost apologetic. He then fell silent, as if he were too stunned to speak.

Kiara blinked slowly, her startled feeling fading as she realized that he was probably just afraid another one of those creatures had shown up. _I'd be scared too after what happened…_ she thought to herself before mustering up the courage to say something to him. "I…I fixed your doll for you mister," she piped up, holding out the toy for him to take.

The young man stared at it in puzzlement, before looking down at his hand where he was clutching Kiara's doll. He then turned his gaze back to the girl before slowly bending down towards her and taking his doll from her before giving her back her own doll. "T-Thank you…I thought I was a goner when that Shiny Mega Gengar got a hold of it!" he sounded hesitant at first before ending off with a tone full of relief.

Kiara smiled as she grabbed her own doll. _Shiny Mega Gengar? Well that would explain why it was white, but Mega? What does that mean?_ she thought, too many questions whirling in her mind at once. As she focused on the man again, she noticed he was staring at her hopefully.

"Tell me, are you perhaps dreaming as well, unsure of how to wake up?" he asked her suddenly. When Kiara nodded eagerly in response, he let out a sigh of relief. "So you are! Oh, thank Arceus! There's someone here besides me!" he exclaimed with joy. He then beckoned the girl over to the side of the path, where he walked over and sat down.

Kiara blinked with curiosity but rose to her feet and followed after him, sitting next to him.

"You wouldn't happen to have any idea how things got to be this way, do you?" he asked her, looking at her optimistically.

Kiara shook her head sadly. "No. I just remember falling asleep, and then I woke up here…I know that I'm dreaming, but this place feels so weird…It's not a normal dream…" she answered.

"So I see…You haven't any clue how things got to this point, either. It would seem we wound up in very similar situations; I have to say…I too only remember sleeping and then waking up here," the young man mumbled in response, gazing down at his doll. "Even down to these dolls, wounds appear as it tears in even the slightest…I really am grateful to you for getting it back to me. It means a lot, since you've never even met me," he glanced at Kiara, giving her a small, friendly smile.

Kiara blinked, blushing slightly as he turned to face her. "I-It was nothing really…You were just in pain, so I couldn't just leave you there," she insisted with a shrug.

The young man chuckled at her with a smile before his eyes widened with sudden realization. "Ah, I still haven't asked your name. My, that was rude of me! Well, my name's Garry. And you are?" he asked with a tilt of his head.

"I'm Kiara," the girl answered with a polite dip of her head. "It's nice to meet you Garry," she mumbled with a smile.

"Likewise," Garry returned the smile. "Now Kiara, tell me, have you ever heard of the Pokémon Darkrai?" he asked unexpectedly.

Kiara shook her head. She was lying of course, since she remembered reading about the pitch-black Pokémon briefly in her studies, but she figured that Garry would probably more than she did.

"Well you see, I don't know if you remember, but the night I fell asleep there was a new moon out. That is when Darkrai is said to put people into nightmares. It is said that he targets those who are experiencing moments of terrible grief or other dark emotions, because they are the easiest to manipulate with dreams. I don't remember exactly, but I have a feeling something bad happened to me before I went to sleep, and that's why I was targeted by Darkrai. You must've had something happen to you too, Kiara," Garry started.

Kiara blinked. She had a feeling something bad had happened to her before she went to sleep too, but she couldn't remember either. Why couldn't she remember? Was there something going on with this world that was starting to make her lose her memory? She had forgotten how to climb at first, but if she were starting to forget more important things, how long would it be before she forgot everything about the waking world? "Is that how Darkrai fully consumes the people he controls then? By making them forget everything about the real world, and then telling them lies about this place, making them give in?" she wondered aloud.

"I think so," Garry answered with a sigh. "Whatever happens though, we have to get out of here. I know that there just has to be an exit to this place somewhere, and when we find it we'll wake up. I think I'll go mad if I stay in this dreadful place for too long…So that's why we have to make sure to don't give into Darkrai's wishes!" he said determinedly, suddenly rising to his feet. "I can't very well leave a girl to wander into danger, no, no. So I'll go with you! Okay? I promise I'll protect you," he smiled, turning to face Kiara and outstretching a hand to help the girl to her feet.

Kiara blinked in surprise at the young man's sudden gestures of kindness. She willingly grabbed his hand and rose to her feet, unable to hide the smile on her face. She had only known Garry for a brief moment, but the impression he was leaving on her made her know that he was someone she could trust. They would get out of this together, she knew, and her motivation was slightly enhanced now that she had someone else with her.

Garry grinned and pulled away from the girl. "Well then, let's go Kiara!" he turned in the direction of the empty clearing and began to lead the way towards it. Suddenly a purple liquid was spat right in front of him however, causing him to fall back in fear. "Hyeeek!" he squealed, losing his brave composure in an instant.

Kiara couldn't hold back her laughter at the scene, giggling at seeing Garry get scared so easily. She hadn't noticed until now, but to the left there was a tree hollow, bearing the same strange creature with the wiggling tongue. Since it didn't exit its hollow like the Haunter or Mega Gengar, it was one of the few things that didn't really frighten Kiara in this place. She continued to snicker as the young man rose to his feet once more.

Garry's face was flushed red, obviously embarrassed. "I…I was just a bit startled! R-Really, that's all it was!" he insisted before shaking his head. "Anywayyy…Let's keep going, and watch out for such bizarre things as that!" he grumbled, leading the way around the purple goop.

Kiara smiled in amusement as she followed after him. She was already starting to enjoy Garry's company. _Maybe this place won't be so bad if I don't have to find my way out alone,_ she thought positively, happily skipping to stay at Garry's heels.

Garry led the way into the empty clearing, gazing around it in confusion until he spotted the blocked off path. As he reached it, he shook his head upon seeing the tree in the way. "What a lousy place for this thing…Step back a tad, would you, Kiara?" he asked. As the girl obeyed, she watched as the young man motioned to move the tree out of the way. "And…heave!" he grunted as he pushed the tree to the side rather easily. "Ta da! Now we can proceed," he said cheerfully. "Alright, let's go," he said, taking the lead once again down the pathway.

Kiara eagerly followed behind him. Traveling with Garry was already proving to be helpful. After all, he had just done something Kiara would've never been able to do. _Don't worry Wolf, with Garry, I know that I'll definitely be able to get out of here soon._


	4. Chapter Three

Kiara trotted alongside Garry down the path, her own footsteps no longer the only thing echoing through the silence. The young man's footsteps chimed in with hers almost rhythmically. Her earlier fears and stress from being in this place were settled down for the time being. She didn't know why, but it was relaxing to have someone else to travel along with her. It reminded her of how she had felt when she had left the orphanage with Wolf. Alone, she wouldn't have been able to make the decision, but with Wolf it was almost easy. Now with Garry beside her, the weight of their situation felt slightly lighter on her shoulders. The two continued on in silence until another path suddenly branched off from the path they were on while their current pathway continued on forward.

"Well Kiara, which way do you think we should go?" Garry asked unexpectedly, halting at the intersection and looking down at the girl.

Kiara blinked in surprise. She hadn't thought about how now that Garry was with her, the two would have to make decisions together. Contemplating it for a moment, she looked up at him and answered. "Forward," she nodded in that direction.

Garry gave a small nod of agreement, "Okay. We can always come back to this path once we see what's up ahead," he mumbled in response before taking the lead again and walking forward.

Kiara kept pace with him, hanging onto her doll by its arm in her right hand. She was glad it was still in good condition as of now. It kept her energy up, which she definitely needed. Garry had said there had to be an exit around here somewhere, and wherever it was, she knew she would need all her strength to get there.

They continued on the path for a while longer until they fell upon a large, square clearing. The girl gazed around it, surprised to see it so enormous in comparison to all the other clearings she had encountered. One corner was taken up by a large cube building made of stone, not sustained by any porch. The rest of the clearing seemed empty, until her eyes spotted a purple body crouched in the corner opposite this house. Forgetting that Garry was with her, she started to creep towards it carefully just in case it was another one of those Mega Gengar in a dormant state until it noticed something off.

"Be careful Kiara," Garry mumbled behind her as he followed slowly after her.

The girl nodded in return, realizing as she neared the creature that it wasn't a Mega Gengar. From behind it looked like a Sableye. She crept closer to it, feeling a sense of dread crawl over her in the process. The darkness Pokémon didn't react as she walked up to it, trying to see why it seemed to be hiding itself. Something was off about it, especially since it wasn't attacking her like most of the monsters she had found in this forest. Kiara circled it, catching a glimpse of its face. The sight caused a chill to run down her spine as she noticed it was missing one of its jewel-eyes. All that was left was an empty socket.

The Sableye finally seemed to notice the girl's presence as it slowly looked up from where it hugged its knees. Its remaining eye looked at her and its mouth remained closed in a frown.

Kiara flinched a bit, taking a step back just in case, but the darkness Pokémon didn't make any motion towards her. It just kept looking at her unblinkingly, not that a Sableye could blink normally. Kiara stared at it uncertainly, meeting her own gaze with the creature's gemstone.

"Um Kiara…What are you doing?" Garry's voice startled the girl as she looked away from the Sableye and towards the young man. He was glancing at her in confusion with a raised brow.

Kiara blushed slightly in embarrassment. "N-Nothing! Let's keep moving…" she stammered as she stepped away from the Sableye and towards the house. She glanced behind her, seeing that the Sableye had returned to its crouched state, as if it didn't care where the two went.

Kiara let the way right up to the door, surprised to find it unlocked. She opened it slowly, seeing walls inside the room surrounding her. They were dark grey stone, and their layout reminded her of a maze. She looked up to see that Garry could see above these walls with ease, being much taller than she was. The girl reached up on the tips of her toes, just managing to see above the walls.

The first thing she saw were creatures patrolling through the maze. Her eyes widened in bafflement as she recognized them. It was the same small tree blocking their path earlier, but more of them, and they were _moving._

Garry grunted in exasperation. "Oh, why didn't I recognize them before? These are Pokémon called Trevenant. They resemble trees as you can tell. My memory must really be failing me if I couldn't notice that tree I moved was one of them," he explained. "But why didn't it attack us earlier? It was just as motionless as a normal tree…And even though several of these Trevenant have looked in my direction, none of them seemed to notice me…It's like they have no sense of direction like those Mega Gengar, except more controlled, like robots…They don't look like robots though," the young man sighed. "Nothing in this nightmare world makes any sense. Let's try and examine this room quickly and move on, alright Kiara?" he mumbled, glancing down at the girl.

Kiara nodded, letting go of the wall and no longer being able to see the elder tree Pokémon. She trusted Garry to lead the way to avoid the Trevenant, but she would still like to see them herself.

Garry raised a brow at Kiara's reluctance before seeming to notice what her problem was. "Here Kiara," he crouched onto the ground. "Climb onto my back. This way you can see above the maze too and keep an eye out behind us, okay?" he said cheerfully.

Kiara blinked in surprise and blushed slightly before nodding. "Okay." She scampered closer to the crouched man and climbed onto his back, wrapping her arms around his neck while keeping her doll in her grasp. She couldn't suppress a yelp as Garry stood up again, holding her legs in between his arms and sides.

"Ready?" he called back to her, glancing at the girl with an inquiring gaze.

Kiara nodded. She looked around the room, surprised to see everything so easily now. _This is how Garry sees it without a struggle…It must be nice to be so tall,_ she thought as she rested her chin on his shoulder, her eyes falling upon the wandering Trevenant. Just as Garry had said, they didn't seem to have a clear sense of direction and didn't notice them as they headed past them. There were a total of three in the room with them, but unless they accidentally ran into one of the elder tree Pokémon, it didn't seem like they would be noticed.

Kiara was carried throughout the maze, glancing back every so often to make sure one of the Trevenant weren't catching up with them. She blinked in confusion as Garry suddenly stopped. Peering around his head, she saw him looking at something written across the wall. It was in purple, dripping paint, much like the first signs she had seen in this world. She skimmed it quickly while Garry seemed to be doing the same.

_Do you like mazes?_

"At the moment, I don't mind them, but I'm also not very fond of them either. However, back home, I loved them! During the fall, my school would take field trips every year to an apple orchard. They had a cornfield maze there, and it was so much fun to find all the checkpoints! There were also these delicious cinnamon doughnuts and apple cider! It was around Halloween too, so we could go pumpkin picking after riding in this big truck around the orchard. Did you ever go anywhere like that?" Garry reminisced merrily before asking Kiara curiously.

The girl simply shook her head. She didn't know how to explain that she had never went to a school without receiving a chain of questions. Even though she trusted Garry, she recalled her mother telling her to be careful of mentioning that she was an orphan to strangers. She decided to keep that a secret for now. However, she did enjoy hearing Garry's story. As she clutched closer to him, she hoped one day she could go to a fun school like that.

Garry sighed, beginning to walk again after lifting Kiara up a little. "Well I hope you do one day. If we get out of here, I'll take you there!" he promised with a warm smile.

Kiara blinked, blushing and burying her face slightly in the nook of Garry's neck. _He's so nice…He doesn't think I'm a monster like Head Sister said people would,_ she suddenly recalled the nun's warnings many years ago. She was certain Pokémon didn't think she was a monster, but she hadn't had contact with humans much her whole life. Of course he didn't think she was a monster; they were surrounded by real ones right now. She looked nothing like them and was a human just like Garry. If he had thought so, he would've acted like it right from the beginning. _Garry's proof that Head Sister lied. I know he likes me just like he would anyone else,_ she thought positively.

Kiara gazed around as Garry continued to carry her through the labyrinth. Her eyes focused on the ground where she spotted a large spot of red paint. She tilted her head slightly in confusion, but the young man simply walked past it, either not noticing it or not thinking it was important. He walked on, veering to the left where Kiara could already see it was a dead end, but as they neared it she spotted a white sign hanging on the wall with neat, black writing written across it. As Garry stopped in front of it, she decided to read it aloud. "'There's a trick to solving mazes…Hug the right hand side and you'll reach the end eventually.' Maybe that's a clue for something…" she wondered once she had finished reading.

"Not a bad trick…But that doesn't help the ceiling being far too low for comfort," Garry sighed, glancing upwards.

Kiara followed his gaze, noticing for the first time how close the ceiling was to Garry's head. She hadn't realized it before, being much smaller than the young man, but now at his height, she could see how it made him uncomfortable. _I guess being tall has its downs too._

"Not to mention those weird things loitering around…gives me the creeps," Garry continued, breaking into Kiara's thoughts. "Let's try not to get trapped between them, okay Kiara?" he muttered before turning back around and heading to the right this time.

At first Kiara had thought he had ignored her remark from before, but now she realized Garry had acknowledged it as he seemed to do just as the sign had said—hug the right hand side. In retrospect, she noticed the only way out and into this maze was through the door they had entered, but maybe there was something of significance on the right side of the labyrinth.

Within moments as Garry carried the girl to the opposite side of the room, Kiara noticed there was another white sign hanging on a dead end wall. She read the black writing out loud as Garry stopped in front of it. "'Check directly south of the red paint.' That paint on the ground from before?" she wondered with a tilt of her head.

"Seems so. Let's head back and see what this sign is talking about. Hopefully it isn't a trap," Garry said as he turned around and led the way back the two had come. Avoiding the Trevenant, he maneuvered through the walls until the red paint was in front of them again. "Check directly south huh?" he grumbled, turning around so he was facing the direction of the wall that held the door.

Kiara looked around the passage south of the dried liquid on the ground. She searched for anything that might be important while Garry carried her down through the walls. A sudden sparkle in the corner of her eyes caught her attention and she quickly turned towards it. She spotted something shining on the ground a bit away from them. The girl tapped Garry on the shoulder and point at it. He nodded in return and headed towards the gleaming item. As they reached it, the young man crouched so Kiara could pick it up since his arms were already holding her. She reached down carefully so she wouldn't fall off and grasped the glinting object in her hand. It was a diamond and she nearly dropped it in disgust as she realized what it might be. "I-I think this is the Sableye's other eye," she told Garry.

Garry examined the ore as Kiara held it out for him to see before nodding in agreement. "It must be. Wonder how it got in here…No matter, let's try and return it. Who knows, we might get something out of it," he shrugged before starting to head back to the door.

Once he safely exited the building and closed the door behind them, Garry crouched onto the ground and let Kiara climb off his back.

"Thanks," the girl murmured shyly, clutching her doll in one hand and the diamond-eye in the other. Her gaze wavered to where the Sableye still crouched where it had been before. She hesitated for a moment.

"Do you want me to do it?" Garry offered suddenly with a raised brow, noticing her hesitance.

Kiara shook her head in response. She didn't want Garry to do everything for her. She'd show him she wasn't just a helpless little girl. Taking a deep breath, she strode over to the Sableye casually and carefully walked around it so she was looking at its face.

The darkness Pokémon slowly looked up at her with a blank expression. Kiara gulped nervously as she began to speak, even though she had no idea if it could understand her. "Um…I-I found your eye…I figured you should have it back," she stammered as she placed the jewel in front of the Sableye.

The Pokémon's gaze lowered onto the ground as it spotted the diamond sitting before it. Its blank expression suddenly changed to happiness as it leaped up and grabbed its eye excitedly. The Sableye turned around and seemed to be putting the jewel back in its place before whipping back around to face Kiara. Both its eyes were now back as it leaped up and down joyfully.

"Well it's a good sign if it's not attacking us," Garry mumbled intriguingly as he walked next to Kiara.

The Sableye glanced between the two humans before suddenly pulling a doll from behind its back and handing it to Kiara.

The girl accepted the toy in confusion, seeing that it resembled no one she knew and was just a doll. "Um…Thank you?" Kiara looked back up at the Sableye, but it was already rushing away without a glance back at the two before diving into the undergrowth around them and vanishing.

"Odd…" Garry said as he looked down at the doll with curiosity. "Perhaps that Sableye knew this doll might be important in helping us get further into this world? So far it has seemed like everything is some type of puzzle, so I wouldn't be surprised if this doll is part of one as well. Let's head back to that path we left behind then, shall we?" he mumbled, taking the lead towards the path that they had taken to enter this clearing.

Kiara followed along after the young man, a doll in each hand now. It didn't take long for them to return to the intersection and take the other path into unknown territory. They traveled along for a while until reaching a dead end; however there was a tree hollow at the path's finish. As they neared it Kiara could see white maniacal eyes gleaming from within, as well as a broad blue smile with the same expression.

"A shiny Haunter…Let's be careful Kiara," Garry mumbled as he allowed Kiara to walk next to him as they approached the tree.

The Haunter's eyes fell upon Kiara with delight. "Ehehe…Dolls are nice…Give me your doll and I'll let you through," it said devilishly with a smirk.

"I wouldn't trust this thing Kiara," Garry said uncertainly as Kiara shook her head in response to the gas Pokémon.

"Oh c'mon! I only wanna hold it for a second!" the Haunter whined in protest, though its eyes seemed crazed.

Kiara stared at in nervously before suddenly realizing she had another doll with her that she didn't need. _Did the Sableye know I would have to give this Haunter a doll in order to proceed?_ she wondered before taking the doll and holding it out for the gas Pokémon. "Here."

The Haunter didn't hesitate to reach out and take the doll from the girl. "Ehehe…Thanks…This is nice," it sneered menacingly. "Well, chow time!" it snarled hungrily as it suddenly popped the doll into its mouth, crunching loudly as it tore the toy to shreds with its teeth and gulped it down. "Ahhh, that was good…ehehe. Thank you, thanks so much…As promised, you can go through," it grunted with an eerie smile before vanishing, revealing that just like the last hollow she had encountered with a Haunter, she could climb through the hollow and go farther into this dream world.

Garry sighed as he watched the gas Pokémon vanish. "Well it's a good thing we got that doll, or only one of us would've been able to progress, and I would never leave you to die so..." he trailed off before shaking his head. "Nevermind. You go on first Kiara," he muttered.

Kiara nodded as she held onto her doll and climbed into the tree hollow. She climbed through and out the other side, hearing Garry squeeze his way through behind her. She looked around the new area she was in, seeing that it was a clearing with a building not far away, held up by a metal porch. It was made of a light grey plaster with no windows.

"Looks like that's our next destination," Garry mumbled as he brushed off debris from his clothing once he had climbed through and onto the other side with Kiara. With that, he led the way forward towards the house.

The girl followed behind him as he headed up the metal steps and to the front door, which was also metal. It creaked as the young man opened it and let Kiara go inside first before shutting the door behind them as he entered the building as well. Her eyes widened as she instinctively backed away and behind Garry at what she saw.

It was a long hallway, dimly lit up by candles along the walls. Lined up on either side of the hallway were statues of Dusclops. Above them on the walls were paintings of Dusknoir lined up as well. The entire scenario gave her chills.

Garry noticed her anxiety and took her hand into his own. "Don't worry. They're just paintings and statues. They can't move," he said reassuringly, though Kiara could detect a hint of anxiety in his own voice. "Come on," he murmured, leading Kiara through the statues and paintings.

Kiara stared at ground the entire time, not wanting to meet her eyes with the inanimate objects in case she found their gaze following her. She noticed Garry made their pace quick as they traveled, not bothered by this however, also wanting to move on as quickly as possible. She looked up as she heard the creak of a door opening, realizing with relief that it was just Garry. They had reached the end of the hallway thankfully, and now the young man let Kiara exit first before he quickly followed after her and shut the door behind them.

Kiara let out a sigh of relief, gazing around at their new surroundings. Her violet eyes widened as she took in the sight. Before them was a strangely large clearing. She couldn't tell where the clearing actually ended. Scattered about the clearing like walls were several trees as tall as the ones around them in this forest. In front of some of these trees were dormant Trevenant. Some of these trees also bore tree hollows, and even from where she stood Kiara could see that red and grey eyes gleamed within with identical white smiles. Both shiny and regular Mega Gengar were inside, waiting for something to come on by so they could escape from their shelter and chase down their prey. The girl hesitated. All her encounters with the shadow Pokémon before hadn't been pleasant, and she didn't want to come across them again if she didn't have to. However, this was the only way forward, and nearly of all the trees bearing hollows contained Mega Gengar inside.

"Don't worry," Garry's voice was soothing and calm as he looked down at Kiara, breaking the girl's thoughts. "We'll be fine! Remember, the Mega Gengar don't have a sense of direction. We'll do what we have to here and move on in no time!" he said positively. "Now come on, and stay close to me," he said as he walked down the steps of the metal porch.

Kiara didn't protest as she followed along after Garry, remaining right at his side. She glanced around anxiously as they entered the clearing, expecting every tree hollow they passed by to release a Mega Gengar. She was both shocked and relieved when so far none of the shadow Pokémon left their shelters and just watched as the two walked by. Her eyes flashed at a plaster building up ahead sitting on the ground with no porch connected to it. It was long and Kiara could see that the other end of the building led deeper into the forest.

"This is probably where we'll have to go to move on," Garry mumbled, also seeming to notice the building's length. "Though I doubt it would be this easy to get to. It's probably locked. Let's check anyways, just in case," he grunted as he led the way towards the front door.

Just as he turned the knob and found it locked as he had predicted, Kiara let out a squeak of fear as she heard a crash behind them. She quickly turned around, pressing close to the young man. A few trees back, one of the Mega Gengar had leapt out of its tree hollow. However, it didn't seem to pay attention to them, though it seemed very hostile nonetheless. It lumbered around growling, pacing back and forth as if searching for something. Kiara was glad that Garry had been right. It seemed to have no sense of direction even though it also seemed to know that she and the young man were a little ways away.

Garry let out a snort, glancing at the clumsy Mega Gengar before turning away. "C'mon Kiara. Let's try and find the key to this thing," he sniffed.

Kiara nodded slowly as she tore her gaze away from the shadow Pokémon and scampered after the young man. She was surprised to find they hadn't reached the end of this clearing yet. It was so huge in comparison to everything else they had seen.

"You know, the layout of this place kind of reminds me of a grocery store, except more maze-like. The trees are like the shelves containing all the produce and the space between them are like the aisles," Garry remarked aloud as his gaze wandered over their surroundings. "Don't you think so Kiara?"

Kiara just gave a small nod of agreement, even though she had no idea what he was talking about. What was a "grocery store?" Had she seen them before on TV or in books? She couldn't remember much, not to mention that this place seemed to sap at her memory slowly. She wondered if her friend back in the real world would know what it was…What was his name again? William? Fox? She felt awful for forgetting something so important. She didn't want to forget. His name was on the tip of her tongue…"Wolf!" she exclaimed suddenly, her memory hitting her like a wave. How could she forget him so easily? He was her best friend! Garry was right—this place really was slowly seeping at their memory. It made sense if this place belonged to Darkrai. If his prey had no memory of their lives before they came here, why go back? What if they had a bad life? She was jolted out of her thoughts as she suddenly walked right into Garry in confusion.

The young man had stopped and was gazing around in confusion. "Wolf? Where? What are you talking about?" he asked in bewilderment, glancing down at the girl.

Kiara blushed in embarrassment. In her distraction she hadn't realized she had said her friend's name aloud. "It's n-nothing…I was just thinking out loud," she said, flustered and mentally kicking herself for being so absentminded.

Garry raised a brow but didn't question her anymore. "Well, alright then. C'mon, I see another building down there," he pointed to where a few "aisles" south through the gaps in the trees white plaster could be seen.

Kiara followed after him as he led the way towards the structure. She glanced around apprehensively every so often, still expecting the Mega Gengar to leap out of their hollows as the two walked by, but once again, they remained inside. As they walked around to the front of the building, one could see it had a window to the right of the door. In the space between the door and the wall, a small wooden table sat with a black sewing machine on top of it.

Garry attempted to open the door to no avail before glancing at the sewing machine. "Well, neither of us have been injured for a while now, but it wouldn't hurt to use it to keep our energy up," he mumbled with a shrug.

Kiara gave a small nod of agreement. Together the two placed their dolls underneath the tube of the machine. Once it had been sucked up, fixed, and spat back out again, they retrieved their dolls and moved on.

"That's two buildings locked already…Hopefully we find the keys easily," Garry muttered as he led the way through the forest aisles east. Within moments another white plaster building could be seen, though this one was rather small. The end of the clearing could be seen as well. "Let's hope this door is unlocked," he grunted as he made his way towards it, blinking in surprise to find it open as he turned the knob.

Kiara followed the young man inside as he shut the door behind them. She blinked as her eyes adjusted to the light of the room. There was nothing in the tiny area beside a mirror on the opposite wall. Together the two walked towards it and gazed at their reflections in the glass.

The girl stared at it for a moment, noticing how small she actually was compared to Garry. She reached up to his elbow in height, which she supposed wasn't too bad, but not that great either. How old was Garry? He mentioned still going to school earlier, so he couldn't be too old…She shrugged off the thought, deciding she could always ask later. She continued to stare at their reflections, noticing they both shared the same morbid expressions. In the situation they were in, it was no surprise that their neutral expression wasn't joyful. Their dolls hung motionlessly from their hands, Garry's in his left hand while Kiara held hers in her right hand. There was nothing too unusual about their doppelgangers in the mirror, so Kiara turned away along with Garry almost simultaneously.

Kiara blinked in confusion as she spotted something grey now sitting in front of the door. As she approached it with Garry by her side, she noticed it was a stone sculpture of a Duskull.

"What the…When did this get here…?" Garry muttered warily. He stepped to the side of the statue, trying to move it over with his foot, but it appeared to be too heavy. "Now what…We can't get out of the room if we don't move this thing," he grumbled.

Kiara shrugged, glancing back to the other end of the room. "Maybe something will happen if we look in the mirror again," she suggested.

"I suppose so," Garry said with an indifferent sniff as he made his way back to the mirror with Kiara following after. Once they were both staring at it again, something was definitely off this time. Behind Garry's right shoulder was the Duskull sculpture, staring intently with its one red eye at the tall man. "Eeeek!" he yelped in shock as he fell back to the left of the mirror, shaking. The Duskull statue had returned to the ground and was now facing him. "W-Wh-What is _that_?!" he stammered, still recovering from his astonishment. He quickly got to his feet and glared down at the stone carving. "Why you…" he growled, his foot pulling back as if he were about to kick the Duskull sculpture.

Kiara's eyes widened and she quickly rushed in between Garry and the Duskull statue. "Don't do it Garry! It's just a sculpture after all," she protested in a soft-spoken voice. "It can't hurt us," she insisted calmly, recalling the young man's words from earlier.

Garry stared down at her blankly for a moment before sighing and putting his foot back on the ground. "…Right, Kiara. My, that was immature of me…" he muttered before smiling gently. "Well…Let's go," he said peacefully as he led the way back to the door.

Kiara followed after him as he exited the building and shut the door behind them. She felt slightly confused at the events of that room. It was unlocked, but it had nothing inside of value to them. This thought quickly entered the back of her mind however as her eyes widened at the large clearing. Many of the Mega Gengar had left their hollows and were lumbering around blindly. She instinctively pressed closer to Garry, waiting for him to find a safe route for them to take.

Garry gazed around at the new environment uncomfortably. "Don't worry Kiara. Let's go…Oh! Look!" he started off slowly while finishing off in surprise. He pointed to a shiny object on the ground by one of the trees. "That might be a key. But there's a Shiny Mega Gengar around it…I'll distract it if it comes near us while you grab it, okay?" he told her.

Kiara nodded at the idea, though she didn't feel comfortable letting Garry risk himself like that. Knowing she probably won't be able to sway his mind, she quietly followed after him towards the tree. It didn't take a moment longer for the Mega Gengar to see them and crawl towards them.

"Over here!" Garry called as he swerved around the shiny shadow Pokémon that charged towards them. However, it didn't pay attention to the tall man and instead continued charging hostilely towards the girl.

Kiara quickly reached down for the key before rushing backwards just as the Mega Gengar clawed at her. It missed by an inch as Garry swiftly returned to Kiara's side and took her wrist in his hand, pulling her away from the creature. It looked around in confusion and frustration, as if it truly had no idea where the two had gone.

Garry sighed in relief. "Alright, let's try this key at the nearest building first," he muttered, turning away carefully now that some of the shadow Pokémon were out of their shelters.

Kiara followed after him, pinpointing in her mind that the building with the window was the closest one. Within moments they returned to it and Garry stepped back so Kiara could put the key in the knob. It clicked as she turned it, and together the two entered the building, Garry shutting the door behind them.

Kiara looked around the room curiously. There were two bookcases sitting along the far wall, and a white couch sat in the middle of the room. Other than that the room was empty, but the girl soon noticed a white sign hanging on the east wall. While Garry explored the other side of the room, Kiara headed towards the sign and skimmed over the black writing on it.

_If_ _you're tired, why not rest? You'll never be hurt_ _again…_

Kiara didn't feel too comfortable reading that message. Something about it felt foreboding, and she quickly retreated back to Garry's side. He was looking up at a large picture hanging on the wall that Kiara hadn't noticed before. There was a man with brown hair and a woman with black curly hair. She was caring a baby in her arms, and they both retained piercing violet eyes. A little boy with blonde hair was standing in the middle of the two adults. No one in the portrait was smiling. Kiara's eyes wandered down and spotted a plaque underneath the picture. "'The Witchard Family…'" she read aloud.

"Wonder who they are…" Garry mumbled aloud. "Hey Kiara, the woman and the baby have eyes like yours. You aren't related to them are you?" he asked, glancing between the girl and the photograph.

Kiara shook her head. Sure, her memory was failing her, but she was certain she didn't know anyone in the portrait. Unless, in some way, these people _were_ related to her, and she didn't know it. She shrugged. She doubted the chances of that being true.

The young man suddenly sighed and looked down at the girl with a tilt of his head. "Didn't find anything huh?" he asked, receiving a shake of Kiara's head in response. "Well, I guess it can't be helped…Maybe there's another key sitting outside by a tree hollow somewhere. Let's go find out," he said as he led the way back to the door. However as he attempted to open it, he found it locked. "What…are you kidding me? We just unlocked the door…The key doesn't go in through this side…" he muttered, his tone mingled with exasperation and anxiety. He suddenly stepped back in fear as something seemed to be pounding at the door. "T-That sound…is that coming from outside?" he gasped slightly in terror. "There's something at the door…Be careful Kiara."

Kiara hid behind Garry in alarm as the pounding got louder and seemed to slowly surround the entire room. She and Garry backed away from the door and stood in front of the couch apprehensively. Suddenly the pounding paused, followed by silence. However the silence was soon broken as sudden a crash could be heard as a Mega Gengar burst through the window and sent glass shattering around it. It lumbered menacingly towards the two.

"Stay with me!" Garry yowled to Kiara as he took her wrist again and dragged her with him as he ran around the couch, trying to avoid the shadow Pokémon in the small space. He let out a gasp as suddenly through the east side of the building another Mega Gengar broke through the wall and charged towards them. He quickly veered around it. "That's our only way out!" he exclaimed as he crouched as he ran to fit through the fresh hole in the wall and back outside.

Kiara's eyes widened with horror as she saw the sudden change outside. Everything in this large clearing had suddenly become active as Mega Gengar and Trevenant were spread out everywhere she looked. There was no safe path to take anymore.

Garry clutched Kiara's wrist tighter as he looked back and forth frantically. "Uh…This way!" he said quickly as he hauled Kiara down an aisle. He halted in his tracks as he found this aisle completely blocked off by ghost Pokémon that were charging towards them. "Nevermind, this way!" he yelped as he veered back around, avoiding the Trevenant and Mega Gengar coming towards them in this direction as well.

Kiara had never felt so trapped and afraid in their entire time here. Before the monsters of this world were easily avoidable, but now they all seemed to have clear senses of direction, and they were all after the two of them. We're not gonna make it! she thought in terror as Garry continued to drag her along. She had no idea where they were anymore; everything looked the same with the ominous woods looming above them and the terrifying creatures all around them.

"Kiara! Look!" Garry's shaky voice caught Kiara's attention. She followed his gaze to up ahead, where the first building they had found was sitting. As they neared it, the girl's heart jumped with relief at seeing the door slightly open. Anything inside had to be better than their situation now! The two picked up the pace and narrowly avoided the claws of a Trevenant as they slipped between the monsters and rushed to the door.

Garry quickly rushed inside and pulled Kiara in with him before slamming the door behind them. However, he didn't stop to rest there and continued to drag Kiara down the long, wide hallway of this building before slowly stopping, panting heavily. "That should be…far enough…I think…" he said in between pants, crouching over with his hands on his knees as he caught his breath. Standing up fully again, he smirked triumphantly. "We certainly showed them!" he exclaimed. "Well then, let's keep go—Kiara?" he turned to face the girl before his eyes widened.

Kiara was panting as well, but had fallen to her knees. "I…I don't feel well…Garry…" she said weakly.

Garry's gaze softened and he knelt down in front of the girl, concern brimming in his gaze. "Oh my, what is it? Are you okay?" he asked worriedly.

Kiara felt dizzy as her vision swayed from side to side and slowly blurred. _What's wrong with me?_ she thought as she suddenly fell over and onto the young man kneeling before her.

"K-Kiara?! Stay with me now!" Garry stammered in surprise and fear. "Kiara? Kiara!" he wailed as the girl didn't respond.

Kiara felt her vision slip into darkness as she lost consciousness, Garry's calls being the last thing she heard before she went under.


	5. Chapter Four

Kiara blinked her eyes open, staring at her surroundings in confusion. All she could see was blackness. It was as if she were standing in a room painted black all around, but she could see no walls or edges—only darkness. Where was she? Where was Garry? Weren't they running away from Mega Gengar and Trevenant? "Garry?" she called out hesitantly, only to hear her echo as a response.

Kiara looked around uncertainly. She didn't know what to do. Should she try and look for him? It was so dark minus the area where she stood, where there was an odd white glow. She doubted she could find anything in such an atmosphere. The sound of footsteps echoing through the silence suddenly made her hopeful. "Garry? Is that you?" she called again, gazing all around as she tried to pinpoint the direction of the sound. Her eyes focused as she saw a black and white robe heading towards her, but her eyes widened in shock at who she saw, realizing it was not the tall man she had befriended. "H-Head Sister?" she stared dumbstruck at the elderly woman standing in the white glow area with her.

Head Sister blinked at Kiara slowly, her expression unreadable. "It's been a while hasn't it? Four years since you've left the orphanage…" she said coolly. "How is your life treating you out there?"

Kiara continued to stare at the old woman for a moment before bursting out in a reply. "It's wonderful! I've made so many new Pokémon friends, and I can climb trees, and swim too! I would have never been able to do all these things if I had stayed. I had a home for a while, but for some reason I feel like I don't anymore…I can't remember why though…" she trailed off sadly.

Head Sister didn't seem to notice her sudden sorrow. "And that man? The one you're travelling with now? What about him?"

Kiara's eyes immediately brightened. "Garry? He's great! He's so nice, and he looks out for me…You were wrong Head Sister! You said people would think I was a monster, but he didn't! I…I think he likes me…" she blushed a little gazing down at her feet and smiling softly.

"Oh please Kiara, that's demented!" Head Sister scoffed with a snort as she slowly started to walk towards the girl.

Kiara's eyes widened in shock at the old woman's response. "But Head Sister I—" she started before the nun continued.

"This is why you never should've left! Dear, this whole 'romance' that you've invented just proves you're too naïve to be here…" Head Sister mumbled, coming up behind Kiara and placing her hands on her shoulders and leaning in next to her ear as she spoke. "Why would he like you, c'mon now, really?" she questioned, turning around and grabbing Kiara's wrists. "Look at you! You think that he's _impressed?__" _she sneered, gesturing towards Kiara as if she were a disgrace. "Don't be a dummy…Come with Mommy…I know an exit not far from here where we can both get out of this nightmare. After all, I always knew what was best—"

"No!" Kiara snapped suddenly, taking a step back and away from the old woman. "I'm not going with you anywhere!" No matter what Head Sister said, she knew she was just trying to toy with her mind. Garry _did_ like her…Right? Either way, she would never leave him behind. They promised to get out together, and she would keep it that way.

"_No?_" Head Sister echoed in shock. "Oh," she smirked with menace. "I see how it is. _Kiara_ knows best. _Kiara's_ so mature now. Such a clever grown-up, yes," she mocked, patting the girl's head slowly before turning away. "Kiara knows what's best…Fine, if you're so sure now, go ahead and give him this!" she growled as she suddenly whipped around, holding Garry's doll in her hand.

Kiara stared at the doll, utterly baffled. Why did Head Sister have Garry's doll? "How did you—" she started before she was cut off.

"_This_ is why he's here, don't let him deceive you!" Head Sister warned darkly as she tossed the toy into Kiara's arms. "Give it to him, watch, you'll see!"

"I-I will!" Kiara tried to say as confidently as she could. She didn't understand what the nun was getting at. She had given Garry his doll back before and he had stayed with her. Why would he leave now?

"Trust me, my dear," Head Sister sneered, snapping her finger. "That's how fast he'll leave you! I won't say 'I told you so!' No, _Kiara_ knows best!" her tone kept getting louder and angrier. She rushed forward, circling Kiara as she taunted her. "So if he's such a 'dream boat,' go and put him to the test!" she snarled before backing away from Kiara.

"Head Sister, wait!" Kiara protested. She had no idea what was going on or what was happening. Everything was occurring in a blur. Nothing was being explained clearly to her.

Head Sister ignored Kiara's plea as she continued. "If he's lying, don't come crying! _I_ know what's best!" she roared before suddenly vanishing.

*Kiara sat up with a jolt, panting and shaking. She clutched something in her hand, looking down to see Garry's coat covering her like a blanket. "W-What…" she looked underneath it, seeing her doll lying next to her. _Was that a…dream?_ She looked around at her surroundings in bewilderment. She was in a room with bookcases sitting against the wall. On the opposite side of the room she could see a wooden table with a black sewing machine sitting upon it.

"Morning, Kiara. I mean, I don't know if it's morning, but you've been asleep for a long time," Garry's voice startled the girl as she looked to her left and spotted the young man sitting few feet away from her. He got up and knelt back down closer to her. There was a cigarette in his mouth, but he soon removed it and smiled warmly at Kiara. "How are you feeling?" he asked with a tilt of his head.

Kiara was silent for a moment, still recovering from the events that had occurred just moments ago. "I-I had a nightmare…" she stuttered quietly, clutching Garry's coat closer to her like a blanket.

"I see…You poor thing. A nightmare inside a nightmare…Talk about inception. I can't say I'm surprised…Being exposed to such frightful sights, you know? I guess it's good you woke up. I'm sorry I didn't notice earlier…" Garry sighed, looking truly apologetic.

Kiara lifted his coat to cover most of her face. "I-It's okay Garry…It isn't your fault…" she said quietly, gazing down at the ground. She didn't know what else to say. The events of her dream had been like how her normal nightmares play out, with her waking up during the climax. _Could it be…Those were my own fears portrayed by someone I feared? I guess I was secretly afraid Garry would leave me…But he didn't. He's still here, looking after me…___

Garry looked at Kiara for a moment longer silently before smiling softly at her. "Kiara, would you take a look in the pocket of that coat?" he asked unexpectedly.  
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"You can have that. Feel free to eat it. Let's rest here a while longer before we set out again," Garry said cheerfully as he took his cigarette and pressed the lit end against the ground, putting it out. He then got up and went to back to where he had been sitting before nonchalantly.

Kiara watched him go, unable to contain her inner happiness. _Garry's so nice…He does care…If he didn't, he would've just left me behind after I passed out so he wouldn't have to deal with me anymore…But he didn't. He brought me here and took care of me, and he was worried about me…_ She didn't know why, but knowing all this made her feel warm and safe. It was a different feeling, not like what she felt for her mother or for Wolf. Glancing down at the candy, she decided to put it in her skirt pocket for now. She glanced at the coat that she still clutched before slowly getting to her feet and walking up to Garry, holding it out to him without saying a word.

"Oh, my coat…Thanks Kiara," Garry blinked with a smile before taking it from her and putting it back on. "Oh. Kiara, how old are you?" he asked suddenly with a tilt of his head.

Kiara sat down next to him as she answered, "Nine."

"Nine? Wow, that's pretty young…I thought I was too young to have a traumatic experience, but you…" Garry trailed off with a sympathetic glance towards the girl.

"What about you then? How old are you?" Kiara asked, blinking up at him.

"Me? I'm sixteen. I think I was in high school before I got here, but I still can't remember that bad thing that happened to me…Odd…" Garry answered with a sigh of disappointment.

Kiara glanced at the ground before looking over Garry. He certainly looked much older than sixteen, but she didn't think he would lie about his age. Noticing something about his outfit, she asked, "Why's your coat all torn at the edges?"

"Hm? My coat's all torn and ragged? No, no, that's on purpose! That's just the design!" Garry said merrily. "Though to be sure, I have been wearing it for many years now…At least, I think I have….I can't seem to recall when I got this…" the young man sighed again, obviously getting frustrated with his memory. "Hey Kiara, do you remember at all how you entered this dream?" he asked hopefully.

Kiara shook her head, wondering why Garry was asking this question again when he had asked it when they had first met. Perhaps he was hoping something had returned in her memory.

"I see…All I remember was waking up here, and then finding a doll lying next to me that resembled my looks. I walked around for a long time without finding a soul…Then I went down a certain path and well…You know the rest," Garry sighed. "When I woke up not long ago, it felt like how it would if you woke up early, so now I'm kind of feeling sleepy…Though at this point, I'm sick of sleeping if it means being here…" he grumbled.

Kiara listened to Garry talk, his voice soothing her stress. Sure it was probably just pointless chatter, but she didn't care. She enjoyed Garry's company more than anything at that moment. She looked down at her tie, pinching the silk between her fingers.

"Say, Kiara…You have a pretty good fashion sense, huh?" Garry examined as he looked over her outfit. "I mean, your clothes…They use some fine-quality cloth, don't they?" he asked as he inspected the fabric.

"I guess so. My mother picked them out for me, though," Kiara shrugged as she looked over her clothing.

"Hm? Your mother?...Well, I don't believe that changes the fact of being a girl of good fashion," Garry grunted in protest.

Kiara simply shrugged again before her gaze fell upon Garry. She wanted to keep talking to him. After all, he had said earlier for them to rest a bit longer, and it would help pass the time if they conversed.

"…Hm? What is it Kiara?" Garry suddenly met the girl's gaze with his own, his expression inquiring.

The first thing that popped into her head came out of her mouth. "Why do you talk like a lady?" she asked, only realizing too late that that sentence sounded somewhat rude and disrespectful. It was true though…Garry had a nice, gentle voice like her mother, not a rough one like someone grumpy she used to know, though she couldn't remember who it was…

"'Like a lady'…? Perhaps so…But, hm…I can't quite remember. I just took to it, I suppose. After all, it's preferable to be gentle rather than rough, hm?" Garry smiled with a chuckle, almost as if he had read Kiara's mind.

"I see…Sorry for troubling you," Kiara apologized suddenly with a dip of her head, feeling as if she were bothering Garry by traveling with him even though he didn't act like it.

Garry's eyes widened. "Why apologize for that?! You didn't do anything wrong Kiara! I mean, no one could've predicted that things would've ended up like this," he insisted before smiling. "Come on, be cheery! It's a disservice to your cute face to do anything else."

Kiara immediately blushed at this, wanting to look away in embarrassment but for some reason ending up staring at him in astonishment instead. She tried to say something object, but no words would come out. Her lips wouldn't even move.

Garry returned her gaze with a raised brow, obviously confused by her expression and her silence. "…Huh? U-Um Kiara…Did I do something wrong? You're kinda freaking me out…" he mumbled awkwardly.

With that comment, Kiara finally looked away, even more flustered than before. She brought her knees up to her and hugged them, feeling rather strange. Why did every little thing Garry say make her get so timid?

"You know Kiara, for all we know, there could be others lost in this place. I mean, we found each other right? Who says that Darkrai can't have even more victims trapped here?" Garry's voice suddenly broke into the girl's thoughts.

Kiara looked up at the young man, as if taking in what he said. He was right; there could be more people here that the two of them don't know about yet. "If we find any more people, are we gonna find the exit with them too?" she asked with a tilt of her head.

"Of course! We have to stick together. We're all in the same boat here, so it'd be best if we worked together to find the way out of here," Garry answered simply. He suddenly looked sad. "I was just so focused on getting out of here…I didn't really look after you. Sorry Kiara."

Kiara blinked in surprise. "It's not your fault Garry! I honestly felt fine until then…I guess it was just too much running all at once for me to handle…Besides, you took care of me now, so it's okay! Thanks for that by the way…" she murmured, a small smile appearing on her face.

Garry returned the smile with a relaxed expression. "I see. It's nothing really. After all, you did save my life before. We're our only friends here, so we have to look out for each other!"

"W-We're friends?" Kiara stammered in slight disbelief. Sure, she had thought of Garry as her friend, but this was the first time he had told her this.

"Why wouldn't we be?" Garry chuckled with a grin. "And even after we get out of here, we'll still be friends! Things like that don't end after one event," he explained.

Kiara couldn't help but smile happily. "O-Okay!" she said with a hint of bliss in her tone. _I was right! Garry's does like me! I have no reason to be afraid that he'll leave me,_ she thought certainly. "Should we get going now?"

Garry nodded. "Seems like it. We can't stay here or we won't find the exit," he sighed as he got to his feet. "Don't worry though; I'll make sure to keep an extra eye on you this time. You aren't going to get hurt like that again!" he promised with a smile.

Kiara blinked cheerfully in agreement. "I'll make sure to look after you too!" she vowed as she got up as well.

Garry grinned at her before turning his attention to the sewing machine. "You go ahead and use the machine. You need it more than I do," he mumbled. "I'll be waiting by the door," with that, he walked off to the other side of the room, where a door was sitting inside the wall.

Kiara watched him go before heading off to the black device and repeating the process she always did to repair her doll until the sewing machine spat the doll out and shut down. Retrieving the toy and feeling more awake now, she headed towards the waiting man.

"Well then, let's go Kiara," Garry said serenely as he opened the door and led the way out of the room.

*Kiara gazed around as Garry shut the door behind them. It was the same hallway she had last seen before she had passed out. Garry must've carried her to the nearest room, and lucky for him, it was safe from the monsters that had been chasing them before. She looked to her left, where not far down the hall a door sat. She guessed that would be their next destination, seeing as there was no way they could go back the way they came, not that they even wanted to.

The girl followed behind Garry as he led the way towards the door she had just spotted. It was unlocked as he opened it, revealing the ominous forest before them once more. Before the events of the maze-like clearing, Kiara had felt rather confident traveling through this world, but once again, the feeling of dread had reappeared. Even with Garry, she didn't feel fully safe as long as they remained here. As they exited the building and left it behind, Kiara hoped they would find the exit and wake up soon.

The pathway the two were now on led to another building not far ahead. It looked much bigger than all the other buildings Kiara had encountered, situated on the ground without a porch. As they got closer to it, Kiara could see that it had many windows as well as a dark brown wooden door that looked almost brand new. The exterior seemed to be made out of an obsidian-colored marble. It seemed to be the most gorgeous building out of them all even though it still didn't look that great, but the color on it was almost surreal. Kiara hoped its unique exterior didn't mean that even more frightening creatures lay inside waiting for them.

Garry opened the unlocked door without hesitation, holding the door open behind him so Kiara could get inside but also so he would be the first to enter in case anything popped out at them. The girl blinked at the rather dark atmosphere inside the building as Garry shut the door behind them. The ceiling was painted black while the floor was painted purple and the walls seemed to be a mixture of the two colors. Lights lined the walls, lighting up the area, but it was still rather gloomy. It was like the forest on the outside had been turned into a building and this was it.

Kiara followed along behind Garry once more, gazing around at their atmosphere as they walked along through the hallway. It was an average sized hallway unlike the previous building, which was much wider than this one. There were no doors or windows, so it was just the two of them in this structure as far as she could tell. The hallway turned to the left as they continued on, not stopping them from following it further into this building. Kiara spotted a door to their left, and when Garry paused with an inquiring glance at the girl, she shook her head in response and they moved on. They could always return to the door; for now there was still the rest of the building to explore.

Garry suddenly halted at the next left turn not far away from the door. Kiara walked around so she was standing next to him. She glanced at him in confusion before following his gaze to the wall in front of them. There was something hanging in a frame with a golden plague underneath it. "'Milk Puzzle,'" Kiara read aloud before glancing at the contents inside the frame. It was relatively white, except now she noticed faint lines forming puzzle pieces in the picture.

"Kiara, have you heard of milk puzzles?" Garry asked, glancing at the girl inquisitively.

Kiara shook her head in response, glancing at the frame with curiosity before turning to face Garry.

"Well, as the name implies, it's a puzzle where all the pieces are white. Since there's no picture on them, they're much harder than regular puzzles. Very smart people can finish them in no time at all but…To be honest, they're not exciting. Since they don't even make a picture in the end," Garry explained with a sigh before smiling cheerfully. "It feels much more worth it to do a puzzle of a picture you like!"

Kiara nodded slowly. "I guess that makes sense," she mumbled, casting another glance at the milk puzzle. She couldn't recall if she'd ever done any puzzles back in the waking world. Suddenly memories of Head Sister flashed in her mind and the girl shuddered at the thought. When she got over the dreadful feeling, she noticed Garry had begun walking down the halls again, and Kiara quickly scampered forward to keep pace with him.

The two continued down the hall for a while yet, passing by a mirror on the way without stopping to look into it. Finally there was a door on the right wall as they reached a dead end. Garry opened it, and Kiara was glad that so far a lot of the doors they had encountered weren't locked. As the tall man closed the door behind them, Kiara gazed around at the room's contents. It was relatively small, having too small bookshelves in the corners at the other end of the room. Hanging on the wall between them was a large painting. Kiara walked next to Garry as they headed towards it. She examined it, and from the looks of it, it seemed to be a Pokémon, but certainly one she had never seen before. She glanced underneath the painting, where a plaque sat. "'Phantump,'" she read aloud. Whatever it was, it seemed to be smiling.

"That's the pre-evolution of Trevenant, and this one seems to be shiny by the looks of it," Garry explained after examining the painting. Suddenly the lights in the room went out and Kiara could see almost nothing but darkness. "Wh-What?! The lights?!" the young man exclaimed fearfully. "I-It's too dark to see…K-Kiara, are you there?" he asked frantically.

"I'm not," was Kiara's first instinct to response. For some reason, it brought back memories of a friend, one who she couldn't name, but one who she knew she had played pranks on before.

"Don't be ridiculous, of course you're there!" Garry growled in irritation. "But, this is a problem…Ah that's right," Kiara heard him digging into his pockets. "I forgot I had a lighter," the sound of him turning on the little device could be heard, only to be followed by a terrified screech as the lights suddenly came back on.

Kiara instinctively pressed herself against Garry fearfully as she looked around the room. The Phantump in the picture was now frowning with a horrified expression across its face. Written along the walls in different colors were the words "**HELP. NO. STOP. DON'T. DON'T KILL ME."**

"What…What is this?!" Garry's voice shook as he shared the same expression as the Phantump as he looked around at the room's sudden changes. He slowly stepped away from Kiara and gazed around fully at the area before letting out a grunt. "I don't think this is…good for my mental health…" he said quietly.

Kiara looked past him to one of the bookshelves to the left of the painting, where she now saw a pink book jutting out the bookcase. Tilting her head in confusion, her shock from the events that had happened moments ago wearing off, she walked towards it until she was standing in front of it. She pulled the book out of the shelf before opening it up and reading it. There were many words in here that she didn't know. "'…by the…, I…my finger over her beautiful…With her…she…'" she struggled to read aloud until suddenly the book was snatched out of her hands and closed. Kiara blinked up in confusion to see Garry holding the book she had been reading. He was blushing slightly and he looked embarrassed.

"…Don't read this kind of stuff until you get older," Garry muttered as he placed the book back inside the shelf.

Kiara stared at him in bewilderment. "But why not Garry?" she asked, glancing at the book that was now in the shelf. What was in there that the young man didn't want her reading about?

"Because you just can't, okay? Now c'mon, let's get out of here," Garry said quickly, already shooing Kiara back towards the door before the girl could protest. Within moments they were back outside the room, Garry shutting the door behind them.

The two walked down the hall back the way they had come, except this time Garry stopped in front of the mirror to look into it. Kiara stood next to him, gazing at their reflections until she spotted something that made her eyes widen. She couldn't see Garry's face in the mirror as it seemed to be colored over with a large black crayon.

"Wh-What's wrong Kiara? You look frightened…" Garry said anxiously, noticing Kiara's startled expression at the reflection.

Kiara turned to face him in confusion. "Your face was…" she trailed off uncertainly. Hadn't Garry seen what she saw?

"Hm? What do you mean?" Garry asked in confusion, before glancing uncertainly at the mirror and the girl before taking a step forward down the hall. "C'mon Kiara…" he murmured as he began to walk again.

Kiara followed behind him with an uneasy glance back at the mirror. Had she hallucinated? She was certain that if Garry had seen his face blotted out like that he would've reacted much differently. She shrugged the thought off for now, but it still lingered in the back of her mind.

A much more off-putting occurrence had been waiting for them a bit before the corner where the milk puzzle was sitting. Kiara's eyes focused on the ground where a trail of red footprints randomly started and led around the corner. Upon further examination it seemed as if something had stepped in red paint and left a trail behind them, but there didn't seem to be a logical beginning to them.

Kiara noticed Garry slow their pace as he too spotted the footprints. He stepped in front of Kiara and warily peered around the corner, the girl peeking around him so she could look too. The footprints continued to lead down the hall and to the door they had left behind earlier, which was still shut. Kiara followed right behind Garry as he headed towards the door and opened it slowly.  
>Kiara, who was already stepping through the doorway into the next hallway as Garry shut the door behind them, suddenly felt something run right into her.<p>

*"Ahh?!" she heard a feminine shriek as she was knocked back onto the ground from the force of the impact. Kiara shook her head for a moment to clear it until she spotted someone on the ground in front of her. Her eyes widened as she noticed that it was a girl like her, with bright blonde hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a green dress with a blue scarf and white-laced edges.

"Whoa, are you okay?" Garry asked with concern, crouching in front of the girl, both he and Kiara's previous anxiety about the footprints completely gone.

The girl gazed at Garry with frightened eyes before quickly scrambling to her feet and backing away from the two in front of her.

"Ah! Wait!" Garry insisted gently, standing back up again as he helped Kiara to her feet. "Hey are you…Could you be someone else? Another human in this world of nightmares?" his voice sounded curious and hopeful.

The girl hesitated before eagerly nodding her head in response, her startled gaze slowly lightening up.

"As I thought…" Garry nodded before giving her a friendly smile. "I'm Garry, and this girl is Kiara," he gestured to his companion. When the girl only stared at them silently, the young man continued. "We fell asleep after experiencing terrible events, and somehow we found ourselves lost in this place…So now we're both trying to find a way out. Presumably, you're doing the same?" he asked with a tilt of his head.

The girl looked sad as she responded. "I…I was looking to see if there was anyone else too…I wanted to get out…So I…" she trailed off, her voice no more than a murmur.

"Ah, I knew it! Well, would you like to come with us?" Garry offered merrily.

"Huh?" the girl gaped in surprise, as if she hadn't expecting Garry to offer to take her along with them.

"It's dangerous to be alone here. There are lots of strange creatures around," Garry muttered. "So will you come with us? I think it would be best if we all stay together," he insisted lightly.

The girl didn't hesitate to respond to that. "Yeah! I'll come!" she agreed joyfully.

"Then it's decided! Oh, what's your name?" Garry asked.

"Mary…" the blonde girl answered.

"Mary then! Nice to meet you!" Garry smiled warmly.

"…Yeah!" Mary smiled slightly before turning to face Kiara. "Um…It's nice to meet you, Kiara…" she said shyly.

Kiara blinked at Mary before nodding slowly. "Nice to meet you too," she said in a friendly tone.

"Teehee…Thanks!" Mary said cheerfully in response.

"Alright! Now that we have more company, we can proceed with our spirits high!" Garry said confidently.

"Yay!" Mary cheered in return before motioning herself behind the two, ready to follow them wherever they went.

*Kiara followed behind Garry as he once again led the way down the hall of this strangely large building. It was odd having another person with them now. _So she's like us huh?_ What if there were more than just the three of them? How many people did Darkrai have trapped in his world? Surely the pitch-black Pokémon wouldn't capture more than he could handle? Then again, Kiara knew no more than Garry did about the Pokémon. For all they knew, Darkrai could have the power to trap thousands of people at once. She shuddered at the thought of so many people being plagued to this awful place as she spotted the hallway turn to the left yet again, though at the corner sat a black sewing machine on a small wooden table.

"Say…Seeing that Kiara and I both have dolls that strongly resemble us…" Garry started as he glanced at the toy shoved in his coat pocket and the black device. "Mary, do you have a doll as well?" he asked, turning his gaze towards the girl.

"…Yeah, I do! My doll looks like me too!" Mary answered as she suddenly pulled a little voodoo doll from behind her to show it to the others. She was right—it did match her appearance just like theirs did, with yellow yarn for hair and black stitches for a mouth, and blue buttons to match the girl's eyes.

"Ah, it's true! You two keep those safe," Garry instructed to the two girls. In a more serious tone, he added, "Don't you dare lose it. And don't give it to anyone. And—"

Mary interrupted Garry as she stared at Kiara's doll with wide eyes. "Wow, Kiara's eyes are violet! My eyes are blue! I like blue, but I also like pink! Oh, and green! Green is my favorite color!" she said merrily.

"…Learn to listen, would you?" Garry muttered with slight impatience before glancing at the machine. "Well, since none of us seem to be hurt and still full of energy, we can leave this machine be. We can always come back and use it later if we really need to," he said before turning away from it and heading down the hallway as it turned to the left.

Kiara followed along after him, surprised by Mary's sudden outburst. Her memory was fading much quicker than it was originally, and she couldn't remember the gender of her friend back in the waking world, but she was sure they never acted like that. Did other girls normally act so…girly? Sure, she was a girl too, but she knew for a fact she had never acted super happy like Mary had over little things. She shrugged off the thought as soon the hallway broke off to the left again, though up ahead was a purple door.

Garry stopped at the intersection and opened his mouth to say something before Mary suddenly ran ahead and attempted to open the door, but seeing her disappointed face showed that it was locked. Garry sniffed in annoyance. "Let's try and think about our decisions before we go charging into things, okay?" he sighed in exasperation. "Well, since that's locked, we have no choice but to go this way," he nodded to the hallway as it branched off and began to lead the way down it as Mary quickly returned to the others, her expression showing that she obviously didn't think she had done anything wrong.

This hallway was rather short, as right away they saw a purple wall as the hallway turned to the right, leading to another purple door. As Mary attempted to run ahead and open the door again, Garry quickly shot a warning glare at her before opening the door himself. As he opened it, Kiara noticed him look horrified as he looked into the room and as she peered around him to look inside she braced herself for something mortifying only to find it was the exact opposite. The girl pushed past him with Mary close behind as she looked around the room.

It was small, but sitting next to the left and right walls were tables, and on these tables sat life-size Vulpix ornaments. Every other one was shiny. She didn't know why, but seeing them made her feeling serene and peaceful. Perhaps something in the remains of her memory was trying to tell her that this was something happy she had waiting back home for her. Her eyes focused on the wall opposite the door, where a huge portrait of a Vulpix sitting a field of flowers hung.

"For the love of…This painting, this room….Why must it be so unsettling?!" Garry growled, though his voice shook, staring anxiously at their surroundings.

Kiara stared at Garry in confusion. What was so frightening about a Vulpix? He looked just as startled as he had when they were running from all the monsters back in the other clearing.

"Huh? Really? I think it's cute," Mary said as she looked at the painting, echoing Kiara's thoughts.

"What?! What about this is _cute_?" Garry gasped, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"I just think it is…What about you, Kiara?" Mary shrugged before turning to look at the other girl.

Kiara gave an indifferent shrug. She didn't really find things cute, but she certainly didn't find this room frightening in the slightest.

"What does that mean?" Mary snorted, slight frustration in her tone.

"Well alright then…" Garry sighed, breaking in before an argument could start over the room. "At any rate, let's try to get out of this creepy place quick. I feel like I'm being watched in this room…Talk about unsettling."

The three separated for a moment to examine the contents of the room, hoping to find some sort of key so they continue on. Kiara spotted a piece of paper on the ground and headed towards it curiously as she picked it up to read it. As she skimmed it over it, she was glad to see she knew all the words in it unlike that other book she had attempted to read. _If your spirit suffers too much, you will soon start to hallucinate…And in the end, you will be destroyed. And more worrying yet…Is that you will not even be conscious of the fact_. Kiara read in her mind. As she put the rather confusing paper back on the ground, she heard a crash behind her, like the sound of glass breaking.

She quickly turned around to see Garry standing next to one of the tables with the ornaments. Right where he was about to walk was one of the Vulpix's shattered to pieces on the ground. The young man had a terrified expression on his face as he hesitantly bent down and picked something up amongst the shards. Kiara saw a faint gleam in his hand as she approached him and soon noticed it was a violet key.

Mary had also walked up to the tall man before suddenly snatching the key out of his hand and examining it. "Looks like we can move on now!" she said happily as she headed towards the entrance to the room without waiting for the others.

Garry stared after her for a moment before sighing and rolling his eyes. "C'mon Kiara," he mumbled as he followed after the blonde girl.

Kiara followed him as she exited the room and the door was shut behind her. The three returned to their normal positions as they traveled through the short hallway, until something caught the girl's eyes. On the wall in big purple letters in dripping paint, something was written that hadn't been there before.

E N V Y

As she stopped walking and stared at the letters in confusion, the others staring at it with her, Kiara started to hear a faint scratching noise. It was quickly getting louder.

"Huh?...That sound's…getting closer…" Mary echoed Kiara's thoughts.

The ground below them suddenly shook and Kiara glanced at her feet to see the beginning of some type of plant life peeking through the stone around them.

Mary and Garry shared the same startled expressions as the girl exclaimed, "Something came up from the ground!"

The shaking got more violent. "T-This is bad! Get away from it!" Garry ordered, shoving Kiara aside a bit as she was standing right in the worst of it.

"Kiara! Watch out!" Mary exclaimed as she suddenly pulled the other girl back as the vine-like plants burst from the ground completely, separating them from Garry.

Kiara swiftly recovered from the shock of the events as she rushed over to the thick vines lined with large thorns, peering through the gaps to try and find the man on the other side. Relief flushed over her as she spotted his head through the bright green plant-life.

"Are you two alright?" Garry called from the other side, worry easily heard in his tone.

"That scared me!" Mary shuddered as she called back in response, standing next to Kiara as she peered through the vines as well.

"Kiara? Are you hurt?" Garry asked again after not getting a response from her.

"No," Kiara quickly answered, though a sudden anxiety swept over her. Garry was on the other side! They had to find a way around to him or a way for him to get to them. They had to stick together! Garry had said so not long ago!

"G-Good," Kiara could hear Garry sigh with relief. "But with these…things in the way, I can't get over there…Maybe I can cut it down?" he suddenly paused. "…Wait, what's this? These vines are made of stone…" he sounded shocked as he examined them for a moment. "What to do…"

Kiara noticed this soon after Garry mentioned it. The gaps in between the vines were far too small for the two girls to squeeze through to him, let alone Garry to them. They couldn't just leave one another to try and find a way around! Who knew what terrifying creatures could be waiting for them.

"…Hey Kiara," Mary's voice jolted the girl out of her thoughts. "We got a key in that room, right? Maybe that key…" her gaze looked back to the other purple door. "Opens that door there? We might find something to get rid of these in another room. Should we go look?" she asked with a tilt of her head.

"Hm…well…I wonder if you'll be okay…" Garry said uncertainly.

"We'll be fine!" Mary insisted. "Right Kiara?"

"I'd rather not split up…" Kiara mumbled awkwardly in response, glancing back through the stone vines to her friend on the other side.

"Huh? Why not? We'll be back really quick!" Mary promised. "I can't think of anything else…"

Garry was silent for a moment before sighing. "I suppose you're right…There isn't much else that seems viable…But if you don't find anything, make sure you come straight back, okay?" he told them. "Then we'll rethink about what we can do."

"Yeah! Got it!" Mary nodded cheerfully. "Okay, let's go!" she turned to Kiara before going on ahead to open the door.

Kiara cast one more glance back at Garry before reluctantly following after the other girl. Once she got to the door Mary was already there with it opened waiting for her. Together the two entered the next room and shut the door behind them.

Kiara nearly jumped in fear as she saw right next to the door on the inside of the room a dormant Trevenant. After her experience not long ago, she no longer trusted them to remain dormant for long. Tearing her gaze away from the elder tree Pokémon, she gazed around at the room. There wasn't much in here besides a couple of cardboard boxes and another door on the other side of the room. She glanced towards Mary, who didn't seem bothered by the Trevenant at all. _I wonder if she's encountered any of the monsters we have…Did she just get in the dream when we met her, or did she explore some of the world before finding us too? _So many questions reeled in her mind, but there were more important things she needed to think about. Right now they had to find something that would help them get back to Garry.

Kiara walked amongst the boxes with Mary, stopping at one that seemed to be open. "Hm…Is there anything in here we can use?" Mary said as she peered inside the box. "Ah!" she exclaimed as she suddenly pulled out a palette knife from deep inside the box. "Maybe this can cut those vines!" she said positively.

Kiara examined the feeble-looking knife for a moment before shaking her head. "I doubt it," she muttered. She didn't think a normal knife could cut through the vines, let alone a smaller one meant for painting.

Mary examined the knife for a moment before sighing with disappointment. "You're right…Nah, it wouldn't work…But I think I'll hold onto this…You know, just in case…" she said quietly as she put the palette knife away in the sleeve of her dress. The blonde girl continued to search the box for anything useful before letting out another sigh. "Hm…I don't really see anything. Should we just go back to Garry now?" she asked Kiara.

Kiara gave a nod in response before suddenly the lights in the room began to flicker. She gazed around in confusion, the room being pitch-black at one point, until the lights returned to normal. Kiara looked around, seeing nothing different in the room, until she looked back at the door where they had entered. The Trevenant was still dormant, but was now sitting right in front of the door.

"Huh? The exit…" Mary said as she and Kiara headed towards the door. "W-When did that move? Wasn't it just against the wall?" she asked in a startled tone. "Move it Kiara!" she said as she scampered ahead and moved herself to the side of the Trevenant. Kiara hesitantly headed to Mary's side, reluctant to touch the elder tree Pokémon but seeing no other option. "Ready? Heave!" Mary grunted as the two attempted to push the Trevenant out of the way to no avail. "No good… It won't even budge…" Mary panted for a moment. "What do we do Kiara? We can't get out…"

Kiara caught her breath for a moment before her gaze turned to the other door in the room. _There's no other option…_ she thought begrudgingly as she pointed towards it and began to walk to the door, Mary quickly following after her.

"Not much else we can do but go this way!" Mary exclaimed as she opened the door and held it open for Kiara to follow behind her into the next area.

Kiara reluctantly followed after the girl, really wishing they hadn't left Garry behind in the first place. They had to stick together in order to get out, but if they left Garry behind…She shook her head to clear it. There had to be another way around to Garry! And they would find each other again! She tried to think optimistically, but a feeling of dread still lingered in the back of her mind.

Kiara walked through the next hallway with Mary, surprised to find this building so large. Up until then they had been traveling through mostly forests, but they had been inside for quite some time now…A sudden splatter on the wall next to the left of the girls cause Kiara to halt and flinch back in surprise. On the wall, black writing had suddenly appeared.

Mary looked back at Kiara with a tilt of her head. "What's wrong?" she asked in bewilderment.

Kiara blinked at the girl. Had she not just seen the paint splatter against the wall? She wasn't even glancing at it…Kiara quickly gazed at the writing, reading it to herself.

_I want you to have fun, Kiara. Come to a fun world without any adults. We'll be together. You, me, and our friends._

Kiara stared at the message for a moment before quickly returning to Mary's side. "I-It's nothing…" she told her as they continued on. _Who wrote that message?_ she wondered anxiously, all her previous fears returning to her now that Garry wasn't with her to keep her safe. Sure, Mary was with her, but it wasn't the same. She hoped they found him again soon.

"I wonder what Garry's doing? We kind of left him behind…Hope he's okay," Mary said as if she could read Kiara's thoughts. However, despite the contents of her words, they sounded dry and lifeless.

Kiara blinked sadly at the mention of Garry. As she trudged along next to the other girl, she hoped silently that he was okay and that he would be alright when they found him again. _Be strong Garry!_


	6. Chapter Five

"…They're taking their time. I wonder if something happened…" Garry muttered to himself as he peered through the stone vines, searching for any sign of the two girls. "Kiara! Mary! Can you hear me?!" he called, only to receive silence as a response. "No good…Argh, I knew I shouldn't have let them go alone!" he growled, mentally kicking himself. "What to do…" he pondered for a moment before turning away from the vines slowly. "…I suppose I'll investigate that room again…As much as I hate to go back in there…" he said quietly, walking back towards the room he had found the key in.

Garry reluctantly opened the door to the room and shut it behind him. He shuddered at the sight of the ominous area. The creepy dolls still sat on the tables. They were made in the same design as his doll, but they had blue fabric for skin, and wiry black yarn for hair, and wore different colored shirts. Not to mention the large, beady red eyes and mouths they had, giving him the feeling that he was being watched. It didn't help that every other doll was a doll of the Pokémon Banette. He spotted the doll that had suddenly fallen over in front of him earlier. Its head was now detached from its body, with white stuffing scattered about. The young man walked past it and up to the painting on the wall, which was a large picture of the creepy dolls in this room. "…No matter how I look at it, this is _not_ 'cute,'" Garry muttered, glancing away from the painting towards the ceiling of the room where from different colored yarn, these strange dolls were being hung from their necks. Some of the necks were ripped open and only sustained in the air by a bit of the blue fabric from their skin. Once again, he couldn't shake the feeling that they were all watching him.

Garry quickly examined what he could, not wanting to stay in this room too long if there was nothing of value to him. He let out a sigh, spotting nothing different from when he had first entered the room, until something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He saw a small bookcase that he hadn't seen earlier and walked towards it, finding that it was easily mobile. As he pushed it to the side, he found a hole in the wall where it once stood. "Ah, it moved! Why didn't I notice that earlier? Oh, well. I can go out this way," he shrugged, glad to leave the room of creepy dolls behind as he squeezed his way through the gap.

Garry stepped out through the other side, finding that the hallway he was now in was the same colors as the remainder of this building. The hallway stretched ahead, before it turned to the left at the corner. However, something at this intersection caught Garry's attention. He walked towards it, fear tingling up his spine as he saw a Banette doll sitting against the wall. At least, he hoped it was just a doll and not the real thing. Next to the doll on the wall was writing written in dripping purple paint.

_Hello there, Garry…I don't like being alone…Take me with you…! _

Garry felt his anxiety grow. "How…How did this thing know my name?" he wondered aloud as he glanced down at the doll. He didn't heed its request and simply continued down the hall, leaving the doll sitting where he had seen it. However, as he walked further down the hall, something caught his attention again. A feeling of dread emerged from within him as he saw the Banette doll again, leaning against the wall to the right of him. As he neared it, he spotted more writing next to it.

_Hey, why aren't you taking me? _

_Because you're creepy!_ Garry thought to himself with a small shudder before continuing on yet again. Up ahead he spotted the hallway turn to the right, and he was glad to see the doll wasn't waiting for him at the intersection. His relief was short-lived as he saw this hall was short. Up ahead it veered to the right and at the next corner the doll sat yet again. He wasn't surprised to find writing on the wall next to it as well.

_Why are you ignoring me? Do you hate me? _

Garry sniffed, not even sure how to respond mentally. He hesitantly moved on down the hallway, unease pricking at him like needles. The hallway was long as seemed never-ending as it winded back and forth. He grunted as he spotted the doll sitting against the left wall this time up ahead. _Now what?_ he grumbled in his mind as he reached it and read the writing next to it.

_Hey, play with me! I know lots of fun things we can do…_

"Even if I wanted to play with you, I don't have the time! I need to find Mary and Kiara!" Garry growled, his irritation sparking his tone. He moved on, his pace faster this time. _Where's the exit to this damn place?_ Garry walked along quickly, veering with the hallway as it turned to the left. It was another short hallway, and at the end the doll was waiting for him once again.

_I've got lots of friends, too…I'll introduce you! _

"Stop following me!" Garry hissed at the Banette doll with a glare before swiftly moving on. As he continued down the hall, he almost didn't stop the next time he spotted the doll sitting against the right wall. _Leave me alone!_

_Be here forever… _

Garry just kept walking after glancing at the message on the wall. He veered with the hallway as it turned to the right, relief flushing into his mind as he saw a door up ahead. However the feeling left as quickly as it had arrived as he noticed the Banette doll sitting in front of the door. As he approached it, he also noticed there was no message on the wall waiting for him. The young man let out a sigh of exasperation. "How long are you going to follow me? Enough of this! I'm busy here, and I'm not going to be your buddy!" he snapped before taking a deep breath to regain his mellow composure. He bent down and plucked the doll off the ground before placing it back down away from the door. "It would be best not to get involved here…" he muttered to himself as he reached for the door knob. Just as he was about to turn it, paint suddenly splattered on the wall to the right of the door. Garry reluctantly paused and read the message that had appeared.

_How many times do I have to say no?!_ Garry thought to himself before ignoring the message's seemingly violent tone and opening the door, shutting it behind him as he entered the new area.

This new area was quite large—it reminded Garry of the large clearing he and Kiara had encountered in comparison to the rest of the building. There seemed to be halls leading ahead of him and to the right of him, but there was a large region bordering these halls that seemed to contain a room within. The tall man noticed a door leading into this region in the hallway to his right, and decided to check that out first since it was the closest. However as he attempted to open it, the door was locked, and the knob was strangely cold. "Huh…" Garry said to himself before shrugging and backtracking so he could travel on the hallway that was heading straight ahead first.

Garry let out a groan as he spotted the Banette doll sitting next to a door up ahead, though the hallway still continued on to the right. He paused for a moment to see what the annoying little thing had to say now.

_I'll always be with you…My home is just nearby…_

Garry's eyes focused on the door next to the doll warily. "Is this your home?" he asked, though he wasn't expecting it to respond anyways. He slowly reached for the knob and opened the door, expecting a room similar to the one he had seen before with all the Banette dolls and other disturbing dolls, but the room was nothing like that. He left the door open as he examined the small, brown room. On either side were three pedestals of some sort. Garry spotted a painting of a basket of fruit on the opposite wall up ahead with a sign underneath it. He read the writing out loud. "'Collect the six berries…Then the room will be colored and your bridge will be made.' Berries huh? I wonder where those are…" he said as he stepped back from the painting. He didn't know what bridge the sign was talking about, but by now Garry had stopped questioning any riddles this world gave him and just did as they said for the most part. He exited the room, shutting the door behind and reappearing in the purple halls once again. He glanced to his left, where the Banette doll still sat where it had been and the writing next to it still being the same message as before.

Garry veered with the hallway in the direction he hadn't explored yet. It wasn't very long, as soon he spotted another corner up ahead, with the hallway veering to the right. At the corner sat a blue sewing machine on a small black table, and on the left wall at the corner was another door. Garry attempted to open it, only to find it locked. He glanced at the machine, deciding he didn't need to use it just yet and moved along with the halls. This hallway soon had another hallway branch off to the left, where from the intersection Garry could see a small little area with a door on the left wall and a door on the right wall. He approached them, finding the one on the left to be locked. He backed up and attempted the opposite door, hearing the click as it opened.

Garry broke out into a fit of coughing as he was met with a room full of strange red mist. He instinctively lifted his sleeve up to his mouth as he heard a hissing echo through the room, as if some pipe had broken and the toxic fumes were leaking into here. He was glad that the weird gas didn't burn his eyes at least as he gazed around the room for anything important, like a key or a berry. His eyes flashed as he spotted something on the ground not far away from the door. Hesitantly he entered the room, feeling sick to his stomach. Even though he was trying to breath as little of the exhaust as possible, it was still taking a heavy toll on him. Every time he took a step his feet felt as heavy as boulders. The red gas seemed to be draining his energy, and fast. He quickened his pace until he was in front of the object he had seen on the ground, bending down and picking it up. It was a Cheri berry! He flinched as suddenly the red berry vanished from his hand into thin air. Garry wanted to dwell on it a bit longer, but he had to get out of this room as fast as possible. Using the little energy he had left, he made a sudden sprint for the door and exited the room, slamming the door behind him as he panted heavily, relishing the fresh air that entered his lungs. However, even so, he felt almost as weak as he had when the Shiny Mega Gengar first stole his doll.

_The doll!_ Garry thought in alarm, glancing down at his coat pocket and shakily retrieving the toy to examine its condition. The doll didn't seem to be missing any limbs, but a spot on its chest was now coated in red powder. "Is that…A way of telling me that my breathing is bad?" As he spoke, Garry broke out into another bit of coughing. Even smoking had never given him this much of a problem. There was a swelling pain in his ribs where he assumed his lungs were. _I gotta get to that machine…_ he thought quickly, not daring to speak out loud in his condition. He quickly headed back down the hallway he had come from and placed his doll underneath the blue sewing machine without hesitation. Once it was spat back out, looking as good as new, Garry immediately felt like his old self again. He let out a sigh of relief, glad that he could sigh without a piercing pain in his chest and throat. As he retrieved his doll and returned it to its spot in his pocket, he heard a click come from the door that was next to the sewing machine. He raised a brow as he walked towards it and attempted to open it again, finding it unlocked this time. "Weird…" he muttered to himself before entering the room.

This room was also brown like the room with the pedestals, though this one contained many bookcases. Above them in the center was a painting of a Banette. Garry headed towards the bookshelves, examining the books inside for anything that might be helpful. He spotted three books jutting out of the shelves, wondering if that was a sign that they were important. The tall man reached for the nearest book and opened it. The title was "The Essentials of Color." As Garry skimmed over the book, he didn't notice much else besides what the book stated it was about. Suddenly as he turned another page, a Leppa berry rolled onto the ground. He glanced at it, and suddenly it vanished too, just as the Cheri berry had. "Maybe the berries automatically go to the pedestals once I find them…" he said to himself before shutting the book and putting it back in its place with the others. Just as he was about to grab the next one, a torn piece of paper on top of the shelf caught his attention. He picked it up, skimming over the writing.

"'Terror: Being alone is fearful. A group of two can have relief. A group of three…'" The rest is torn off…" Garry muttered as he read it out loud before putting it back where it was. He let out a sigh. "I hope Kiara and Mary are okay…Well, as long as there are two of them…" He shrugged off his doubt and quickly returned to the other books, wondering if they would contain berries like the first book had. _If they do, that'll be four out of six all taken care of!_ he thought to himself before reaching for the next book and pulling it out of the shelf to read it.

"'Carrie Careless and the Galette des Rois…A motion picture book…'" Garry read the title aloud as he opened up the front cover of the novel, noticing an author's note on the first page.

_Read to the end and get a special prize!_ the text read.

"Like a berry?" Garry said hopefully as he began to turn the pages of the book, blinking in surprise as he saw that the first page was a poorly drawn picture of theater curtains out of red crayon. What surprised him even more was that the pictures were _moving_, like a video or something. _I guess it really is a motion book…_ Garry thought as he watched the animation begin.

The red curtains pulled apart, revealing more crayon drawings of four children. Two were girls, one having pink hair and the other having baby-blue hair. The other two children were boys, one boy having a lighter shade of brown for hair and the other having a darker shade. They were standing around a small table with a dessert of some sorts on top of it. "Happy Birthday!" the pink-haired girl and the boys cheered.

"Thanks guys!" the blue-haired girl said happily.

"For your special day…We made a Galette des Rois!" the pink-haired girl exclaimed excitedly.

"What's that?" the blue-haired girl asked.

"There's a coin in this pie…" the pink-haired girl started, but Garry flinched for a moment as the text appeared. He had heard a squeaking noise of some sort as if the girl was actually speaking. "And if you eat the slice with the coin in it…Then you'll be a happy person!"

"That sounds like fun!" the blue-haired girl cheered, also making a happy squeaking noise as the text appeared.

"Doesn't it?" the pink-hair girl said before she moved out of the frame of the curtains for a moment and returned with a crayon-drawn knife. "Okay, let's divide it up!" the curtains closed for a moment before reopening, revealing the pie to be sliced into pieces for the four children. "Now pick the slice you want!"

"Let's eat!" one of the boys said as the four picked up a slice each.

The curtains closed again, then opening to reveal that the pie had all been eaten. The blue-haired girl was still finishing up hers before she suddenly exclaimed, "Ah!"

"What is it?" the pink-haired girl asked.

"I think I just…swallowed something hard!" the blue-haired girl shook as she spoke.

"Ahaha! Oh Carrie!" the pink-haired girl laughed.

"It must've been the coin!" the boy with the lighter brown hair said.

"What do I do…?" Carrie asked, looking nervous, even for a crayon drawing.

"It's fine, the coin's small!" the pink-haired girl promised. "Well, I'll clean this up now!" she said as she placed the knife on the plate where the pie had been and vanished behind the curtains, as if moving into a different room. The curtains closed and reopened, revealing a taller pink-haired woman pacing in front of a door and a table. "What's wrong, mom?" the girl asked.

"Have you seen the key to the study?" the woman asked.

"To the study?" the pink-haired girl repeated in confusion. "It's always right here on this table…Huh?" she started as she approached it, only to pause in even more confusion. "It's the coin…" she said as Garry spotted a yellow circle drawn on the table. "The coin that should've…been put in the pie…" she paused and looked back in the direction she had come from. "Could it be that…?"

"Where could it have gone?" the pink-haired girl's mother didn't seem to be listening to her. "Oh, my dear will be so upset…" she said as she left the room.

"What do I…do…" the pink-haired girl said slowly, tilting the plate slightly and causing a loud clang to echo through the room as the knife fell onto the floor. She jumped and turned to look at it before the curtains closed. They reopened to reveal the girl walking along down a hall carrying the knife in her hand. She was squeaking again as the text appeared. "Looks like I was just as careless as Carrie…" she said to herself before the curtains closed again. A loud slash could be heard from behind the curtains before suddenly a squeak sounded as the pink-haired girl poked her body through them. She was holding the knife and the key, but both she and the items she carried were now covered in red crayon spots. "I found the keeey! Now open the door!"

Garry stared at the book as it the pages suddenly turned, revealing a Sitrus berry tucked in between the back cover and the last page. There was a message written above it. "'Congratulations! You finished the book! Now here's your prize!'" Garry read out loud as not a moment later did the Sitrus berry vanish into thin air. The young man slowly closed the book and put it back in its place in the shelf. "Well, I could've gone without reading that…What's wrong with this place?" he muttered to himself, glancing at the last book waiting for him. "I don't even know what getting these berries will do for me…It better help me get closer to finding Kiara and Mary," he grunted before pulling out the last book, hoping it wasn't as disturbing as the last.

Garry brushed off the dust from the cover, his eyes widening in confusion as he read the title. _"Mary's Diary?" Why would Mary have a diary in this place?_ he thought to himself as he slowly opened up the book, a feeling of dread crawling up his spine. There were no dates, but neat writing on each of the pages. Thankfully, it wasn't a lot.

_I've been here for quite some time now…I don't even know what this place is…I have to find a way out soon though. I can hear my father's voice sometimes, echoing through my head as he calls for me…At least I have this book to help me pass the time as I travel around aimlessly here…_ the first page read.

_There are strange creatures here…They all seem to want to kill me…But I won't let them harm me, or my doll! I think I can hear my father's voice nearby…I have to be getting close soon!_ the second page continued.

_I've been traveling for a while…I don't get tired often—there's always those sewing machines to help me get my strength back but…It all seems pointless. My father's voice seems to be getting farther away as I try to get closer…Is that even my father's voice that I hear? To tell you the truth…It's getting harder to remember things…_ the third page continued.

_I feel so tired…I don't want to move on anymore…I can't remember anything…Even my father is just a faint memory, soon to be washed away with the others…Do I even have a father? How do I know he's even real, or if it's just my mind going insane after being here so long? I haven't seen anything but the walls of these buildings and the towering trunks of the forest around me…I've forgotten what the sun looks like…At least those creatures have stopped attacking me…In fact, they seem to be rather nonchalant, no matter how close I get to them…I wonder why._

_I met a nice Pokémon by the name of Darkrai today. He told me that if I stopped trying to get out, I wouldn't feel tired anymore…I was reluctant at first, but he made a lot of points…I mean, how do I know the life I'm trying to get back to is even a good one? This place isn't too bad anyways…I mean it's the only thing I remember now. He said I'd never have to feel pain or hunger or exhaustion ever again…How could I refuse? I agreed. All at once, everything felt wonderful. Darkrai took my doll and consumed it, but I felt no pain in the process. I'm free…I'm finally free…_

_I made a new friend today! He can't talk like me, but I understand him! I decided to call him Big Brother. He plays lots of games with me! Those creatures play with us too! They actually are really nice when you get to know them…Plus they promised to always protect me and give me what I want! I don't remember how to read much at this point…I'm surprised I can still write…They read me stories of the other world! There are things like snow and the sun there! I drew lots of pictures of all of us there enjoying all those things…I wonder if I'll ever get to see them…_

_I love Big Brother and I'll my friends…But I can't help feeling lonely…Big Brother seemed to notice…He told me he would miss me if I really wanted to go, and told me how to get out! He said that the next time Darkrai brings someone here, an exit opens up! That means if I find the exit first…I can go to the waking world and take their place there! It sounds like a marvelous idea! But I haven't seen Darkrai bring anyone here in forever…Won't somebody come soon?_

_The Mega Gengar told me two new people were here! I know I should go straight for the exit but…It's been so long since I've seen people like me…Maybe they're friendly! Maybe we can get out together! If there's two of them…and I only need one of them to get out…That means I can be friends with one of them while the other stays here! I'm gonna get out and see real snow and sunlight! Nothing's going to stop me now!_ A berry suddenly fell out of the diary, revealing to be a Lum berry.

Garry hardly noticed as the fruit vanished into thin air. He slowly closed the book, utterly stunned. "M-Mary's not human…She's a spirit trapped in this world…And Kiara's with her! She isn't safe with her! I have to find them, or who knows what Mary will do to get outside again!" a part of Garry felt sorry for the little spirit-girl who had been trapped in this world for so long, but it didn't meant that it was okay for her to make one of them stay here instead. He swiftly placed the book back in the shelf before exiting the room.

Garry nearly flinched at seeing the Banette doll sitting next to the table with the sewing machine. There was purple writing on the wall above it.

_What are you doing? I wanna play too!_

Garry grunted, ignoring the message. He didn't have time to have a conversation with a toy. He had to check the other doors to see if they had also suddenly unlocked. He went to the closer of the two remaining, which was the door across from the room full of the red gas. He snorted in frustration at finding it still locked before quickly reminding himself that there was still the room with the strangely cold doorknob. Garry retraced his steps all way back to when he had first entered this area until he was next to the door again. However, he saw the doll had moved next to the door, with more writing above it.

_I found something good…I'm making it my treasure!_

Garry examined the doll, quickly noticing that its mouth seemed bigger somehow. He hesitated before bending down and slowly unzipping the Banette doll's mouth, finding an Oran berry sitting amongst the stuffing. It soon vanished into thin air, leaving Garry and the doll there. Garry jumped back as suddenly the doll's red eyes looked right at him before laughing maniacally and hopping away towards the door. It opened as the doll stood there and quickly ran inside before it shut again.

Garry slowly regained his composure after that sudden scare and approached the door. As he attempted to open it, he found it unlocked. He debated going in for a moment, but seeing as there was no other option, he took a deep breath and entered the room, leaving the door open behind him just in case.

The young man nearly jumped out of his skin at seeing the dimly lit room before him. There were more of those creepy dolls as well as Banette dolls across the floor. Some dolls were also sitting on shelves to the right and left walls. He slowly stepped forward, glancing fearfully at all the dolls around him. On the opposite wall, he spotted an empty picture frame. On the ground below it, he spotted a Chesto berry. He quickened his pace until he bent down and picked it up, before it too like all the others vanished. "That's all six!" he thought with relief, eager to get out of the room. Suddenly he heard a paint splatter next to him and spotted the Banette doll from before sitting next to the wall with writing next to it.

_Welcome to our home…_

Garry glanced at it for no longer than a moment before quickly heading back to the door. Just as he was about to exit, it suddenly slammed in front of him. As he tried to open it again, he realized with terror that it was locked. "No!" Garry leapt back as writing suddenly appeared on the door. He read it over swiftly.

_Let's have another treasure hunt…Who? Who? Who has the key? _

"W-What?" Garry said as he turned back around to face the room, suddenly hearing a noise like a large bell going off. The room's lighting was abruptly off, turning into something like a strobe light. "This is bad…Where's the key?!" he gasped as he whipped his head back and forth frantically. Something across the room suddenly caught his attention through the strobe light as the bell-like sound continued, quickly getting lower in tone. He stared at the empty frame, where at the bottom pink claws were peaking out. Another set of claws appeared a moment later, followed by a gray head covered in zippers. _A Mega Banette!_ Garry had no time to waste in staring at the creature. If he didn't find the key soon, that thing would get out of the frame and do Arceus knows what to him!

"_Which one? Which one? Which one?_" The disturbing dolls chanted menacingly as Garry ran frantically between them, grabbing the Banette dolls and ripping their mouths open, finding only pebbles and gross amounts of hair.

"C'mon!" Garry snapped, his anxiety growing as he searched through the terrible lighting to find another Banette doll to rip open. His eyes focused as he spotted one close to the painting, and as much as he hated to go near it with that creature preparing to crawl out, he made a dive for it, tearing open its zipper-mouth. Relief washed over the young man as he spotted the glimmer of a key inside. He yanked it out and made a run for the door, the lights still flashing, the bells still ringing, and the dolls still chanting, all their eyes on him. As Garry glanced back one last time as the door unlocked, he saw the Mega Banette crawling out of the picture and on the ground towards him, its eyes wide with hunger. He swiftly exited the room before slamming the door shut behind him and making a run for it. He didn't stop running until he was nearby the last locked door in the area.

Garry crouched with his hands on his knees, panting heavily. He glanced at his coat pocket, glad to see his doll hadn't been stolen by the ones in the room. As he caught his breath, fury suddenly consumed him whole. "I...have had enough…of that room! Why did I…have to…deal with that!" he snapped in between gasps for air. He took a moment to regain himself and took another deep breath. "But, thinking about it…Kiara might be in just as terrifying a situation…We've got to regroup soon!" he said with determination. Not a moment later did he hear a click come from the remaining locked door. _That's my next destination…Don't worry Kiara, I'm coming for you!_


	7. Chapter Six

"Hey Kiara…can I ask you something?" Mary asked as the two girls made their way down the halls.

Kiara turned her head to face her companion, raising a brow to indicate that it was okay for her to ask whatever she wanted. After entering a different hallway, the two found themselves still in this building, though now the halls were a brown color instead of purple. So far they hadn't found any other passages besides the thin hallway they traveled through currently.

"Is Garry…your dad?" Mary asked after understanding the signal Kiara gave her.

Kiara shook her head in response. "We just met recently, actually," she told her, leaving out another bit of info. Her memory seemed to be fading faster and faster by the minutes, and to be honest, she had no idea if she even had a dad. Surely if she had very faint memories of her mother, she'd have a father too, right? It gave her a headache anytime time she tried to think too hard about her past.

"Hmm….So somebody else is your dad…I see…Is your mom nice Kiara?" Mary nodded slowly before turning to face Kiara again, curiosity gleaming in her blue eyes.

"Not when she's mad," Kiara chuckled jokingly, smiling slightly at the thought of being with her mother again when this was all over. She couldn't remember what her mother's name was or what she looked like, but very faint memories of her personality still remained, and they were all seemingly pleasant.

"Ahaha! She gets mad at you? But you seem so well-behaved!" Mary laughed. More seriously, she added, "You want to see your parents again soon, right? I want to get out soon too…" she trailed off, looking rather sad. Before Kiara could respond, Mary began speaking again. "Hey…Kiara, uh…If only two of us could get out of here, then what?" she asked suddenly.

Kiara paused in her tracks at this question. She had never contemplated the thought of only two of the three being able to leave this dreadful place. What would she do? She and Garry had promised to get out together, but Mary was here now… "Well…I guess I'd surrender myself," she said after a moment of silence. It was true; Kiara wouldn't be able to bear the thought of leaving one of the others behind, even if it meant she had to stay in this world.

"What?! Really Kiara? But then you'd never see your mom again!" Mary gaped at her in shock. "…It would be really lonely…you know?" the girl looked distant for a moment before shaking her head. "Don't say things like that…We'll leave together! Promise!" she vowed.

Kiara blinked at Mary before nodding in agreement. "Yeah!" she said happily and continued to lead the way down the hall. The thin hallway suddenly veered to the left, leading to a door. Kiara was glad that it was unlocked, seeing that there was no other place for the two to go. As she entered the next area, she blinked in surprise to see how large it was. Across the vicinity Kiara saw a door, and to her right against another wall she saw another door. Past this second door there seemed to be more to this large area they could explore.

"Let's check this one first!" Mary said as she pointed to the first door Kiara had spotted. Without waiting for a response she scampered towards it.

Kiara snorted. _I can see why Garry was getting impatient with her…She always seems to be running into things without thinking about what might happen. Then again, we haven't encountered any of the monsters here yet, and for all I know Mary might have never seen them, besides seeing that Trevenant move in front of the door_, she thought as she followed after Mary towards the door.

Mary opened the door with ease and held it open for Kiara to follow her inside this small room. There was nothing inside it beside a door to the left, which was blocked by another dormant Trevenant. "Hm…Looks like we can't go this way yet," Mary mumbled as she examined the room.

Kiara nodded in agreement. "Yeah. We'll just have to wait until we find Garry again so he can move it for us," she said, motioning back towards door that had led them into the room.

"Yeah…Garry…" Mary mumbled in an odd way as she headed past Kiara, who was glancing at her in slight confusion, and left the room.

Kiara shut the door behind them as she reentered the large area. As she glanced around for Mary, who had once again gone ahead, she spotted her by the other door she had seen before.

"This one's locked," Mary reported once Kiara had caught up with her.

"I see. Well there's still more of this area to explore. And this time, could we please stick together? We don't know what lies ahead and I don't want us to get separated," Kiara asked in a polite tone, shuffling her feet awkwardly.

Mary blinked at her in a mixed emotion of surprise and joy. "You want us to stay together? Alright Kiara, I won't go ahead anymore, as long as you promise not to leave me behind!" she smiled with a giggle.

"Don't worry, that's the last thing I'd do! Now come on, let's keep going," Kiara said in a cheerful tone, grabbing Mary's hand and walking down the next area, which in some way was like a wide hallway. A little square section broke off not long after they walked, but it only revealed to have a picture of a Banette hanging on the wall and a black sewing machine on a wooden table sitting below it. "We don't need it now, do we?" she asked the girl next to her.

Mary shook her head. "No, I don't think so," she answered and with that the two girls continued forward. The hallway-like structure abruptly ended, though on the right wall was another door. Kiara hoped it was open as they approached it, seeing as this was the only other place they could go. She let out a small sigh of relief upon finding it unlocked and led the way inside the room, letting Mary shut the door behind them.

Kiara blinked as she looked around at the room before them. She blinked in surprise to find no color in here whatsoever. Up ahead, she took a few steps forward to see the floor in the middle of the room wasn't there, leaving a dark abyss between one side of the room and the other. She stepped back a bit from it, glancing to her left where a drawing pad on a canvas caught her attention. She read the words written on the paper aloud for herself and Mary. "'Soon the berries will be found and the bridge will be made…Then the life of this room will return.' Wonder what that means?"she said with a tilt of her head, glancing at Mary who simply shrugged.

Kiara returned to the edge of the abyss carefully, staring across it to the other side of the room. Squinting, she could spot a lone table sitting with a basket of fruit missing their color on top of it, and a key sitting next to it. "How can we get across to it?" she wondered aloud, leaping back as a trail of red paint suddenly smeared itself across the abyss, the color in the Cheri berry in the basket on the other side also returning.

"Whoa! Maybe someone found one of those berries! If they find them all, maybe a bridge will be made across and we can get that key!" Mary exclaimed excitedly as she bent down and touched the trail of paint, finding that it was solid and dry.

Kiara walked back over to the line of paint and crouched next to Mary. It was solid, but far too thin for even one of them to cross at a time. A sudden realization came to mind. "It's gotta be Garry! He's probably looking for us, and finding the berries in the process! We just gotta wait until he finds them all and we can get that key," she said happily as she examined the basket of fruit on the other side, waiting to see if another one of them would regain its color. "Well, should we wait here or—" Kiara started as she turned to Mary, only to cut herself as she realized her companion wasn't there anymore. She gazed around, seeing no sign of the girl in the room. She let out a grunt of frustration upon seeing the door open. "Why'd she run off like that? She promised to stay together…" she muttered as she got to her feet and exited the room.

Kiara began to head back the way she had come, soon spotting Mary not far ahead. She was standing at the spot where the square section and the wide hallway met, a few yards away from the sewing machine. However, she was just standing there, staring at the ground. As Kiara approached, she tilted her head in slight concern and confusion. "Mary?" she asked.

Mary was silent for a few moments. "…Mary…I'm Mary…Ohoho, oho, ohohoho… Ahaha, ahahahaha…I am Maaary, I am Maaary, I am Maaary, I am Maaary, I am Maaary, I am Maaary…!" the girl let out a wicked snicker as she lifted her head up, a crazed look on her face. Suddenly she ran off, back in the direction of the hallway that had led the two into this area.

Kiara hesitated in following after her. Why had Mary acted so weird just then? Well, she couldn't just wait around to see if she came back. Sighing, Kiara slowly headed in the direction Mary had gone, noticing that the locked door was still closed and the door to the room with the Trevenant hadn't been opened either. She walked in the direction of the door that led to the thin hallway and found it open. Taking a deep breath, she walked through, looking around for any signs of Mary. Kiara blinked in confusion as she heard a whacking sound up ahead and soon spotted her companion up ahead at the intersection of the hallway. In front of her was a Duskull statue like the one Kiara had encountered before with Garry. However, this one had red tears streaming down from its eye sockets as Mary stabbed her palette knife over and over again into its head.

"In my way…In my way…In my way…In _my_ way!" Mary was muttering to herself, slowly getting angrier with each word.

Kiara slowly backed away, not wanting to approach Mary in her strange state. She didn't even want to know how the flimsy little knife could manage to puncture stone like that. Soon Kiara was out of the hallway and back into the large brown area, leaving her sighing with relief. She didn't know what had suddenly gotten into Mary, but whatever it was, she could go and wait for the bridge to be made on her own until Mary was back to normal. Kiara nearly jumped out of her skin at hearing the girl's voice behind.

"Kiara…Don't leave me…" Mary said in a sad tone, not meeting Kiara's gaze as she turned around.

Kiara blinked, unsure of how to respond. She simply let out a sigh and nodded slightly. "Okay…Let's go back to the room and check if any more of those berries have regained their color," she mumbled slowly before heading back to the room with the bridge of paint. Kiara glanced back every so often to see Mary trailing slowly behind her silently. The two continued on in silence until they returned to the room, where Kiara entered but Mary hung in the doorway. The girl quickly examined that the Leppa and Sitrus berries were now colored and a lighter red and yellow trail of paint had appeared next to the first trail of paint. "Garry just needs to find three more berries. Then we can get across," Kiara mumbled half to herself, turning back around to the doorway. She was surprised to see Mary still standing there.  
>"Kiara…Can we wait out here for the bridge to be made? It's kind of cramped in there, plus we can always come back and check to see if it's finished," Mary asked quietly, shuffling her feet.<p>

"I guess so," Kiara shrugged indifferently, though on the inside she was a little concerned about Mary. She was acting very strange, and it was kind of starting to creep her out.

Mary's eyes lit up slightly upon hearing Kiara's agreement. "Great! I'll be over by the sewing machine!" the girl exclaimed before suddenly taking off down the wide hallway again.

Kiara let out a sigh and shook her head. Mary sure was an interesting character. She made her way slowly after her, spotting her in the little square section once she arrived. Mary was staring at the painting of the Banette, and for a moment Kiara thought she saw its zipper-mouth moving, but it was still again so quickly that Kiara wondered if she had imagined it.

Mary quickly turned to face Kiara when she neared her, her old cheerful exterior unexpectedly returned. "There you are! I was thinking we could rest here for a bit and talk until all the berries are found. There's no harm in that, right?" she asked hopefully.

"I guess not," Kiara sniffed as she walked towards Mary and sat down against the wall next to her, slightly relishing taking the weight off her feet after walking for so long.

The two girls sat in silence for a moment until Mary suddenly struck up conversation. "I love to draw. I got lots of crayons. We should draw sometime! I'm pretty good, you see!" she said with a chuckle of confidence.

"That'd be cool, once we get out of here," Kiara mumbled in response. She tried to think of a time she had drawn back in the waking world, but for some reason only berry mush and cave walls came to mind.

"We should play dolls too! I'll be the mom doll, and you can be the dad doll…" Mary stared off into the distance for a moment, as if imagining the scene in her mind. However soon she was back with Kiara in the square section and turned to face the girl next to her. "Kiara…How's this scarf?" she asked with a tilt of her head.

Kiara examined it for a moment. "It's cute," she answered.

"Teehee…I'm glad! I really like it too…Your ribbon's all big and cute too, Kiara!" Mary complimented as she pointed to the purple accessory hanging around the collar of Kiara's shirt.

"Thanks," Kiara smiled in return to Mary's praise, toying with the fabric of her ribbon between her fingers for a moment.

"I wonder what Garry's doing," Mary speculated aloud. "Crying all alone, maybe? I hope we find him soon…"

Kiara didn't respond. _Of course he isn't! He's finding the berries for us, even if he doesn't know it is for us, right? _Doubt flickered in her mind, but only for a moment. There was no other explanation to why the berries were suddenly being colored again over time.

"I want to get out soon…I'm tired of being here…" Mary's voice interrupted Kiara's thoughts. Her companion was staring at the ground apprehensively.

"Me too…" Kiara breathed out a sigh. She didn't like this place one bit, and just wanted to be back in the real world. She had outgrown her stay here long ago. The girl glanced at Mary, who was still staring at the ground. She decided this was probably a good time to start questioning Mary about her earlier actions. "Why were you walking so slowly behind me before?"

"Huh? Why was I trailing behind you?" Mary's head lifted up upon hearing Kiara speak. "Well, why not…? There's no real reason…" she shrugged. She was quiet before suddenly asking, "Kiara, would you…be friends with me? I've…always wanted a girl like me who could be my friend…" she said sadly. "And I want to meet your mom, too!" she said in a more cheerful tone. "I mean, I don't even have a dad…"

Kiara blinked in surprise. "We're already friends Mary, and we'll continue to be friends even after we get out of here! You can meet my mom too, she's really nice!" she promised with a warm smile.

"Really? Yay!" Mary cheered happily. "Kiara, do you know about snow?" she asked, moving on to another subject. When Kiara nodded in response, the girl's eyes widened in awe. "Wow, that's nice! It's really cold, right? I read in a book that you can eat it with syrup! I wonder how it tastes…"

Kiara tilted her head in confusion. _You eat snow? I don't think you're supposed to…Maybe my memory's just failing me again…_ she thought as she shrugged, hoping that once she got out of this world all her memories would return to her again.

"Hey, Kiara, have you ever done loves me, loves me not?" Mary asked. When Kiara shook her head, the girl quickly explained what it was before adding, "But you don't always have to use a flower! Anything else will do, as long as you can pull it apart!" she giggled merrily.

Kiara nodded before realizing they had gotten off topic. She had to find out why Mary had done what she did in that hallway. "What were you doing over there?" she asked, nodding her head in the direction of the thin hallway.

"Huh…?" Mary looked confused for a moment before sudden realization swept over her face. "Oh, that was…I'm sorry, I'm not too sure either…I was just…All these feelings suddenly…How do you say it? Came…gushing out? Um…uh…Don't worry about it! I'll be fine…" she explained slowly and uncertainly, ending off quickly in an insisted tone.

Kiara stared at Mary for a moment before giving in. "Well, alright…If you say so…" she mumbled, glad that at least she got some sort of answer. Garry suddenly came to mind, causing Kiara to frown. "I hope Garry is safe…" she thought aloud.

"…Yes…That would be…nice," Mary said slowly. "But if he's not, we'll just have to leave him behind, right? Just saying…"

Kiara stared at her companion in disbelief. "Why, we couldn't! We all promised to get out together, you said so yourself!" she gasped.

Mary frowned. "Sorry Kiara…I just really want to get out. You see, I really want to be with my dad, but I guess I can't meet him. I keep looking for him here hopefully, but I can't find him. Maybe if I get back to the waking world, he'll be there waiting for me…" she trailed off, staring into the distance once more.

"Wait, I thought you just said a while ago that you don't have a dad?" Kiara asked in confusion.

"Well…Sometimes I think I do, sometimes I don't…It's probably this place messing with my memory…" Mary sighed with a shake of her head. "Hey, you should probably go and check if those berries are all back. I'll wait for you here," she suggested in a murmur.

"Yeah," Kiara agreed, rising to her feet and stretching for a moment before leaving the square section and heading back to the room not far away. She opened the door and walked inside, finding immediately that the bridge had been completed, and the room and everything in it had color once again. Delicately, Kiara approached the bridge of colorful paint and walked across it to the other side of the room, where she retrieved a brown key off the table. She slowly crossed the bridge again, not wanting to slip and fall into the abyss on accident. Clutching the key and her doll, the girl left the room, shutting it behind her, and headed back to where Mary was waiting for her.

Kiara gazed around in confusion when she noticed Mary was gone. "Does she just have a problem with keeping her word or something?" she growled in frustration. "Fine. She can be that way. I'll just go on ahead and she'll have to come find me herself!" she snorted, immediately heading towards the locked door from earlier. She heard a click as she inserted the key and turned it, unlocking the door. Placing the key on the ground, Kiara opened the door and shut it behind her. "There. If Mary really wants to come find me, she can open the door on her own!" she sniffed, looking around at this new area. It was just a small section, where a little bit to the right Kiara could see stairs leading down. Just as she reached the stairs however, Kiara heard the door behind her open ominously slow. She turned around to see Mary standing in the doorway, shutting the door behind her.

"…Where are you going, Kiara?" Mary asked in a strange tone as she took a step towards the girl. "Why are you going by yourself? We promised we'd be together…" suddenly Mary's palette knife slid out of her sleeve and landed into her hand neatly. "…Right?" she said in a crazed tone, taking a few more steps towards Kiara.

Kiara backed up into the wall next to the stairs fearfully. Something wasn't right with Mary. Why did she pull out her palette knife? Was she really that angry that Kiara left her behind for a few seconds? She opened her mouth to say something in her defense, but no words would come out, as if her vocal cords were being constricted.

Mary got ever closer, tilting her head as a crazed smile appeared on her face to match her tone. "Why are you running?" she asked maniacally.

_No! Stop Mary! Stay away!_ Kiara wanted to say, though something still felt as if it were muting her. The girl tried to run away, but her body was frozen, making her stay put as Mary got ever closer to her. _Help!_

"Kiara!" a familiar voice suddenly roared angrily, but it wasn't Mary. Kiara turned her head towards the stairs to see Garry suddenly rush up and step between herself and the other girl. A look of hatred appeared as obvious as the light of day on Mary's face upon seeing the young man. "What're you doing Mary?!" Garry snapped, grabbing the girl's wrist and backing her away from Kiara.

"Shut up! If only you had just been good and stayed there…!" Mary spat in fury, causing Kiara's eyes to widen at the girl's sudden mood change.

"M-Mary…I knew it, you're…!" Garry started with wide eyes before he felt the girl suddenly pull at his grasp.

"Stay away! Yaah!" Mary snarled as she pulled herself away from Garry so roughly that she fell back and onto the ground with a loud thud as her head it first, knocking her unconscious. Her doll and palette knife fell onto the ground next to her.

*Garry watched Mary for a moment, making sure she was down before whipping around to face Kiara, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Kiara! Are you okay?!...Sorry I'm late!" he grunted glancing over her as if making sure Mary hadn't harmed the girl.

Kiara felt herself shaking and on the verge of tears, the constricted feeling on her gone. Garry had arrived just in time to save her, and yet she still couldn't believe what had happened. Mary's mood changed so suddenly once Garry arrived…Why? Sniffling, Kiara threw herself at Garry, burying her face in his stomach and wrapping her arms around him.

"Whoa! K-Kiara…" Garry stiffened in surprise at the sudden gesture before relaxing a bit and patting Kiara's head gently with one of his hands. "Sorry…It must've been scary. But it's okay now…" he promised with a soothing smile. He pulled away from the girl before turning back around to face Mary's unconscious body. "You might not believe me, but Mary…she isn't human—or at least, not anymore. Now she's just like the monsters that chased us before. I didn't spend enough time with her to really notice…It's dangerous to stay with her. Even if I had just been a little later there…" he shook his head, as if trying not to imagine what might've happened. He quickly turned around to face Kiara once more. "You might feel a bit sorry for her…But we need to get away now, before she comes to!" he growled.

Kiara nodded slowly in agreement. From what Garry said, that meant that Mary was a spirit trapped here after failing to escape. If they didn't escape in time, she and Garry would also end up like her, trapped here forever. She let Garry take the lead back in the direction she had come, guessing that he had already explored all there was down the stairs if that's where he had come from. However, suddenly she paused, gazing down at Mary's doll. Her eyes widened as its form unexpectedly changed, turning into a doll with blue skin, black wiry hair, and red beady eyes and a mouth. "Garry, look!" she gasped.

Garry backed up and stared at the doll in shock and fear. "I figured her doll must be a fake after what I read, but for it to actually be one of _those_ dolls?!" he said with wide eyes before swiftly shaking his head. "Come on, we gotta move," he grunted, opening the door and holding it open for Kiara.

Kiara stepped through and waited for Garry to shut it behind them before speaking. "There's only one door left in this area I haven't gone in yet because it was blocked by a Trevenant," she explained.

"Then that's our next destination. I can move it easily and we can carry on, hopefully leaving Mary far behind before she wakes up. Show me where the door is," Garry said, letting Kiara take the lead.

Kiara nodded and quickly headed a few yards forward, leading Garry into the little room that held only another door and the elder tree Pokémon blocking it.

"Alright Kiara, step back," Garry instructed as he positioned himself next to the Trevenant and pushed it out of the way after a couple of heaves. "There. Let's go!" he nodded back to Kiara, opening the door that the dormant Pokémon was just blocking.

Kiara followed Garry through the door that led into the next area. However, in the back of her mind, she wondered if this would be the last they would see of their old traveling companion, and if they would really be able to avoid her until they were safely out of this realm.


	8. Chapter Seven

Kiara followed Garry down the stairs that had been through the door that the Trevenant was blocking. Everything was rather dark and hard to make out at first, until suddenly light lit up the thin stairway. The girl's eyes widened at the sight, blinking down at her feet to see the steps below them a pink color and no railing or walls to protect them from falling into the galaxy around them. Their entire surroundings seemed to be like something in space. Kiara saw stars and a midnight blue sky but something was off about them. They looked as if they were drawn by crayons. Even as a shooting star flew past, it also looked like it was pulled out of a child's coloring book.

"Be careful Kiara. We're almost at the bottom," Garry called back to the girl as he continued down the steps.

As they reached the end of the stairs, Kiara blinked in confusion as she examined the pink path ahead of them. It started off solid and together, only to end up looking like a cloth being pulled apart. Thread-like bits of the path entwined together ahead of them, but as Garry took the first steps on the unstable-looking pathway, he reported that it was just as firm as before.

The thread-like look to the path soon vanished as they continued on. The pieces wove tightly together until it looked as if someone had taken a pink crayon and drawn the path ahead of them on dark blue paper. _Weird…_ Kiara muttered in her mind as she trotted at Garry's heels.

The two continued on the crayon-path in silence, until something caught both their attentions. In letters much larger than both Kiara and Garry, the word "sketchbook" was written across the blackness to the right of them. It also seemed to be written in crayon. Next to the "s" was an arrow pointing farther down the pink path, indicating that this so-called sketchbook was up ahead.

Kiara and Garry walked past the writing in silence, but exchanged confused and slightly curious glances as they progressed forward. After a few moments of walking, Kiara spotted more pink-crayon paths up ahead. One was branching off to the right while the path they were currently on continued forward. Inside the intersection was a crayon-drawn house, sitting silently. Everything around them in this place was also rather silent, except for the ringing in Kiara's ears that had appeared as soon as they had reached the intersection.

"Well…This certainly is a change in atmosphere…" Garry muttered, though there was slight awe in his voice.

"Yeah," Kiara breathed in agreement. If she had ever doubted this world was just a dream, now she couldn't deny it. There was no way this place could be real.

"I wonder if we can actually go inside the house over there…" Garry mumbled, nodding to the white-crayon house. "Let's check it out," he said as he grabbed Kiara's hand and walked next to her towards it now that the path was wide enough for them to travel side by side.

Kiara clutched Garry's hand in one hand and her doll in the other. She let her mind wander for a moment to think about her past. However, almost nothing came to mind. She didn't know who she'd have waiting for her when she woke up, where she would awaken, or anything before the point of her falling asleep. The only thing left that she could call a memory was that of her mother. Even then, she had no idea what she looked like or how she acted. Her only vivid memories were of her experiences here from every point up until now. _I hope I remember everything eventually…_ she thought as Garry reached for the crayon-drawn doorknob and turned it like a normal doorknob, though it was still strange to watch.

Kiara let go of Garry's hand as they separated to explore the little contents of the house. It was one-roomed, though to the right there was a little opening in the wall as if there was another section there. There was a table in the center of the room with a bowl of red fruit on top. The rest of the room was hard to make out exactly, considering everything there was also crayon-drawn. Kiara scanned the room a bit, following Garry through the opening in the wall she had seen moments before. It revealed to look like some type of kitchen.

"No one's gonna believe us if we tell them what we saw," Garry chuckled a bit, reaching for the crayon-sink and turning on the faucet, causing blue crayon-water to pour out. He turned it off right after, gazing around at the cabinets and stove and oven.

"Do you think there's anything in here we might need?" Kiara asked, opening up one of the cabinets she could reach but finding nothing inside.

Before Garry could answer, Kiara flinched as she heard the creak of the door opening in the other section of the room, separated by the wall. The sound of footsteps soon followed, causing Garry to silently press himself against the wall and beckon Kiara towards him.

Kiara held her breath with anticipation as she pressed her ear against the wall, listening intently for whatever had entered the room with them.

"Kiara…Garry…Where are you?" Kiara's eyes widened upon hearing the voice of Mary.

"Don't tell me…" Garry hissed so quietly that Kiara almost didn't hear him even though she was right next to him.

Kiara focused on the sound of Mary's footsteps, stiffening as she heard them get closer to their hiding place. _Don't come over here!_ she silently pleaded, shutting her eyes in apprehension. Just as she thought the girl would find them for sure, it sounded as if Mary turned around as her footsteps faded away from their location. The creak of the door sounded for a moment as it was reopened, followed by a slam as it was shut again.

"She's after us…." Garry grunted after a moment of silence, probably to make sure Mary had really left the room. He rose to his feet with a sigh. "Let's be careful while traveling through here from now on. We can check this room out for anything and then move on. I'll check the rest of the kitchen, you can take the remainder of the house," he instructed, beginning to search the cabinets.

Kiara nodded and hesitantly returned to the main part of the room, expecting Mary to pop up from the corner and attack. However, she spotted no one, which would be easy considering the crayon environment. The girl gazed around the room, still finding it difficult to make out anything else besides the table in the center. She headed towards what she thought was a bookshelf, but it hurt too much to look at, let alone scour through for something of significance. She didn't think she'd find anything on the clock hanging on the wall, which she noticed wasn't ticking. She headed towards the table instead, beginning to move around the red fruit in the bowl as she heard Garry approach.

"Well, all the cabinets are empty. You find anything?" the young man asked.

"Now I have," Kiara grinned as she scooped up a key from the bottom of the bowl. Much to her surprise, it was normal-looking and not crayon-drawn.

"We'll probably need that later. Keep it safe, okay? Let's get out of here," Garry said, grabbing Kiara's hand once again as they exited the house.

Kiara continued on next to Garry as they decided to keep traveling on the pink path they had been on. She glanced behind her anxiously every so often, expecting Mary to appear. There was no cover for the two to hide in this strange place, so if Mary did find them she had no idea what they'd do. As they continued on, soon a gray-crayon smudge appeared up ahead. It turned into a drawing of a large building with a picture of a color palette above the door.

"The key probably goes to this," Garry told her as he attempted to open the door but found it locked.

Kiara nodded and was about to put it in the doorknob when the key suddenly vanished from her hand. A loud click could be heard from the door a moment afterwards. As Garry turned the yellow-crayon knob again, it opened this time. Exchanging a slightly confused glance, the two entered the building.

Kiara's eyes were met with gray walls. On these walls were large crayon drawings of herself and Garry, both of them holding their dolls. "Whoa…" she said aloud, her tone ironically more distant than fearful. She glanced to her left, where the building continued on. She began heading down it, tugging Garry along with her, who had been staring at the drawings of themselves silently.

As they walked for a bit, Kiara glanced at the wall that had held the drawings from before. Now there was even a crayon-drawing of Mary. However, she wasn't holding a doll. Instead, standing at her feet, was that creepy doll with blue skin.

"Look," Garry pointed to writing on the wall below the Mary doodle. It read "Pandora's Box." Underneath that was an arrow point to an actual box sitting against the wall.

Kiara approached the box with Garry. It was small and a lighter gray than the rest of the building around it. She let go of Garry's hand and crouched next to it, examining it a bit.

"'Pandora's Box' huh? Should we open it?" Garry asked, tilting his head towards Kiara.

"Well, there's not much else we can do, and I'd rather not have to come back here," Kiara said as she slowly lifted the lid of the box, half expecting something awful to happen after everything that's happened already. However, she braced herself for absolutely nothing, as all there was inside the box was a little mirror. She picked it up, seeing nothing out of the ordinary about it.

"Hm, a mirror? Well, I guess you never know when we might need it. Hang onto it for now," Garry told her.

Kiara looked at the mirror for a bit longer before nodding and putting it into her skirt pocket since it was small enough. She felt her hand brush the wrapper of the candy Garry had given to her back in the room they had rested in. That time felt so far away now…She shook her head a bit to clear her thoughts and got to her feet again. "Let's go," she mumbled as she took Garry's hand again, heading back to the door and exiting the building.

Kiara continued to glance around apprehensively once they were back on the path, even though she saw no sign of Mary and didn't hear anything else besides the ringing in her ear and her and Garry's footsteps. She hoped that meant they would be able to avoid her until they finally got out of this world. The pink path suddenly turned a corner to the right, which the two followed. They continued on it for a while without seeing anything but the darkness around them until finally a blue house appeared at the corner of another intersection as the path turned to the right. As they got closer, Kiara noticed that the door was frozen over.

"Hm…It doesn't seem like we'll be able to go through here…Maybe we'll find something to get rid of the ice somewhere else," Garry reported as he pulled Kiara down to the right on the path past the house.

Kiara trotted alongside next to Garry, still keeping an eye out for Mary but feeling a bit more relaxed than before. The near silence was comforting in a way, since it meant that there were no creatures around to attack them. Soon Kiara spotted the path turn to the right yet again, and there was another white crayon-house sitting at the outside of the intersection. The two walked up the crayon-steps that led to the twin doors, but found it locked.

"We haven't found another key yet…We'll probably find it somewhere else," Garry said before tugging Kiara down the next pathway.

Kiara let out a sigh through her nose, glancing back at the house before turning her attention forward again. Everything seemed too serene at this point, and she didn't like it. Even when she had just explored by herself or with Garry, there was still an unsettling atmosphere around them. Now that it was gone, it was almost weird. She had gotten so accustomed it to. _Would this place stop being scary if we were stuck here like Mary?_ she wondered. She was jolted out of her thoughts however as she spotted a pink smudge up ahead, as well as the path opening up into a clearing-like format.

As the two neared it, Kiara noticed it seemed to be a pink cube house of some sort. As she and Garry circled it to the front of the building, they found the doors, as well as a black sewing machine on a table to the right of it. To the left of the doors was blue writing, which was rather difficult to read since it was written in crayon. "'The pink key is always kept in the toy box…'" she read aloud, squinting as she did so.

"The toy box huh? Wonder where that is…Well, there's still another pathway over there," Garry gestured across from where they stood where the pink crayon-path continued on into the darkness. "I don't really need to use this right now. What about you?" he asked Kiara as he glanced at the sewing machine.

Kiara shook her head. "No. I think we should save it if we really need it later," she mumbled.

Garry nodded in agreement. "Same here. Well, let's keep going then," he murmured, leading Kiara towards the next path.

The two continued on it for no more than a few moments before they reached another intersection. However, this one was familiar. Kiara realized it was the first intersection with the first white house they had encountered. The path they were on now was the path that had branched off to the right. However, the thread-like path that they had come from with the long staircase through the galaxy was gone now.

"Well…Guess we aren't going back…Not that we would've anyways," Garry grumbled, also noticing that the path had vanished. "It seems as though we've just made a huge loop…There was nothing left in the first two houses we explored though, so we might've missed something on the path. Let's check again. Maybe something changed," he said as he led Kiara onto the path past the white house.

The two continued on past the grey building as well, keeping an eye out for anything different but finding nothing. They turned the corner onto the path that would lead them up to the blue house with the frozen door. Once it was in sight again, however, Kiara did notice something had changed. There was a crayon-drawn sun in the sky above it, and on the path ahead there was an orange spot drawn over the pink in crayon, as if indication this was where the sun's rays were shining.

Kiara stepped onto the orange spot and immediately felt a bit warmer. She tried to imagine that this is what it felt like to stand under the real sun, but when she attempted to recall what the real sun was like, little came to mind. She turned her head as Garry came to stand in the orange spot next to her.

"Ah, it's warm…" Garry smiled as he relished it for a bit. "But this is a fake sun, isn't it? I hope we get to see a real sky again soon…" he sighed, as if he too were trying to recall the memory of sunlight and real nature, not like the gloomy forests they had encountered before. "You know, I was just thinking…Why did Mary come with us? To make fun of us?...The more I think about it, the less likely it seems. We don't know very well what she's after…Of course, she may not even have a goal. She could be trying to get out of this place, or she might just want to make us suffer like she has…First things first, I want her to stop chasing us with a palette knife…" Garry muttered.

"Me too…I wonder how far she'll go…" Kiara sighed, clutching the arm of her doll tightly.

"I have to say, we've come a long way, us two…I wonder when we'll get out? My feet are starting to get sore…I thought we wouldn't have to go far to find the exit, but it certainly is taking a while…" Garry sighed.

"I hope it's someplace close," Kiara agreed, also starting to get a bit tired of all this travelling around, even with the machines returning her energy and the little breaks they took now and then.

"You know, as far as we've managed to come…Aren't we headed down? All the stairs seem to go down…Is this a good way to go…?" Garry wondered in a slightly uncertain tone. When Kiara shuffled her feet at the thought, Garry quickly spoke up. "Sorry, Kiara. I didn't mean to make you anxious…Forget I said it, okay?" he apologized, quickly changing the subject. "This place seems to make my ears ring…Plus…Is it just me, or does it smell like crayons?" he sniffed, gazing around at their crayon environment. "Why…?"

Kiara nodded in agreement to the ear ringing and scent of crayon wax. It certainly was strange, but it sort of made sense, since it was like they were walking through a coloring book.

"Say, Kiara…Have you heard of macaroons?" Garry asked suddenly. When Kiara shook her head, the tall man explained. "They're these candies shaped like hamburgers. I don't remember much, but for some reason I remember just the other day getting them at a café, and they were sooo tasty!" he smiled. "They were really, really good! Even the cream wasn't too sweet! So, uh, if we get out here, could we go there together?" before Kiara could answer he shook his head. "…No, wait. We _will_ be going there! And we will get out! I promise!" he laughed merrily, smiling widely down at Kiara.

Kiara met his joyful gaze with a smile. "Yeah!" she agreed. She appreciated Garry's optimism even when all hope seemed lost. She was glad she had found someone like him to help her get out of this place, which meant somehow they had to progress forward. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the little mirror she had gotten before. _What could I use this for…?_ she thought, glancing up at the crayon-sun. Suddenly an idea came to mind. She stepped off the orange spot on the ground and placed the mirror down on it, angling towards the door covered in ice. The ice suddenly melted quickly as the sunlight reflected off the mirror and onto the door. Kiara eye's gleamed with triumph as she looked up at Garry.

"Wow! The sunlight reflected onto the ice. Not too shabby there Kiara!" Garry grinned as he praised her.

"Thanks!" Kiara smiled. "Now let's check out the inside," she said as she took Garry's hand and headed towards the door, which was thankfully unlocked. As the two entered the building, they found it rather small and nearly empty, except for a key lying in the middle of the floor. Kiara picked up the plastic key, quite surprised that this was all this building had inside.

"All that effort for one key huh? Well there doesn't seem to be a toy box in here, and this key isn't pink, so it probably goes to that other house that was locked. Let's check it out," Garry said as he examined the object Kiara held.

Kiara nodded in agreement and the two made their way out of the house and back down the path toward the white house from before. It soon came into view, and as Kiara attempted to put the key in the knob, it vanished just as it had before, followed by the click to indicate the door was now unlocked.

Garry opened the door and led the way inside. This room was small and nearly empty as well. However, against the opposite wall was a blue box of some sort with the words "Toy Box" written across the outside in black crayon. The two walked right up to it, looking inside the blackness. "This is the toy box…? It's rather big," he said in surprise. "But at any rate…It said there was a key in there…I can't say I see the bottom. Is there really a key in here, I wonder…?" he muttered uncertainly as he leaned in to take a closer look inside.

Kiara also leaned in, trying to search the blackness of the toy box for anything but finding nothing. Garry was right; it was pretty big on the inside compared to the outside. She wondered how far down it went…

"Wanna see?"

Kiara and Garry flinched simultaneously upon hearing Mary's voice just behind them. However, before either of them could react, Kiara felt Mary's hand push her roughly into the blackness of the toy box. She let out a wail of fear as she felt herself plummeting down into the darkness, trying to search for Garry with her before she hit the ground with unimaginable force. She tried to get back up again, but the pain was so sudden and extreme that she felt her vision go black as she fell unconscious.


	9. Chapter Eight

Kiara's whole body ached as she regained consciousness. She blinked her eyes open, her vision blurred at first. After a few moments it cleared as she rose to her feet, gazing around at her surroundings with wide eyes.

The room she seemed to be in was enormous, the walls and floor completely black. On the floor were many crayon drawings of different things; a pink cat, a clown, footprints, and an assortment of other random scribbles. As she looked around a bit more, she saw Trevenant, Duskull statues, and many of those creepy dolls as well as Banette dolls. The dolls all seemed to be smiling. Some of the Duskull statues had red tear stains that had trailed from their eyes sockets.

Kiara took a few steps back from the sight, attempting to clutch her doll protectively and search for the comfort of Garry's body, but found neither. She looked down at her hands frantically, seeing no sign of her doll. She checked around the area where she had woken up for any sign of the toy, but found nothing. _Where is it?!_ she thought, desperately scanning the landscape for any indication of the fabric sticking out against the rest of the room's contents. She wanted to call out to Garry, but she wouldn't dare do that with all the dormant creatures sitting around silently. _I have to find Garry and keep an eye out for my doll in the process…I hope he's close by…_ she thought, hesitantly taking her first steps deeper into this dark room.

Kiara wandered around a bit aimlessly, trying her best to avoid any of the objects as much as she could. Suddenly her eyes flickered towards a familiar body lying on the ground. _Garry!_ She quickened her pace until she was crouched next to the unconscious man. "Garry?" she called quietly, nudging him awake.

"Oof…" Garry grunted, his eyes blinking open slowly. "Ow…ugh. I hit my head…" he complained as he rose to his feet. Kiara noticed his doll was still safely tucked in the pocket of his coat. "Kiara…Are you okay?" he asked in a concerned tone, though he still looked as if he were in pain.

"I'm fine…" Kiara insisted, trailing off as she shuffled her feet anxiously.

"Ah! That's good…" Garry blinked with relief, his mood brightening a bit. "At any rate…" he began to gaze around at their surroundings. "This place is full of scribbles…Is this the toy box?" he wondered, gazing up at the pitch blackness above them. "We fell in from the upper floor…after she pushed us…Well, let's look for the key and get out!" he said determinedly as he returned his gaze to Kiara.

"Right…" Kiara mumbled, almost not listening as she was filled with the anxiety of where her doll was.

"…You look kind of pale. Are you really okay…?" Garry asked as he examined Kiara a bit more closely. Giving in, Kiara quickly explained the problem. "What? You lost your doll?! That's not good at all!" he exclaimed in shock. "You had it before, so it must be in the toy box somewhere! Let's find it!" he said quickly, taking Kiara's hand and beginning to lead her in a different direction.

Kiara's anxiety didn't waver, even with Garry with her. She had a dreadful feeling about all of this. Hope flashed in her for a moment as she spotted something foreign lying on a spot on the ground that wasn't covered in scribbles. "Look!" she pointed towards it and began to pull Garry in that direction. However her hope faltered as she realized it was just a pink key.

"Well, at least we found one of the items we were looking for…" Garry said positively as he crouched down and picked up the key, putting it in his coat pocket. "I'm sure your doll is somewhere around here too," he promised.

Before Kiara could reply, a familiar voice could be heard nearby. "Ooh? What's this? A present for me?" Kiara and Garry both turned in that direction to see Mary. In front of her was one of those creepy dolls. However, it was moving, and handing something to the girl. "Yay, it's so pretty! Can I have it? Oh, thank you!" Mary cheered happily while the doll bounced up and down in delight.

"That…It can't be…" Garry mumbled before suddenly taking off towards the girl with Kiara at his heels. "Mary!"

"Oh! Kiara and Garry! Did you find what you were looking for?" Mary asked casually with a tilt of her head. However, Kiara's eyes widened upon seeing her carrying her missing doll. When Garry remained awkwardly silent, Mary continued. "But anyway, look! I just got this! Pretty, isn't it?" she smiled, holding out Kiara's doll.

Garry took a step forward. "Mary…that…That doll…"

"Huh?...Ah! You mean this is Kiara's? I thought I'd seen it before!" Mary blinked in understanding as she examined the toy.

"Mary, please…Give that back to Kiara," Garry said in a cool tone, obviously trying not to provoke her.

"Huh?...You want this back Kiara?"Mary asked disappointedly. Kiara nodded and took a step forward so she was next to Garry. "Well…Hmm…Wanna trade Garry's doll?" the girl offered. Garry's eyes widened at this. "The buttons on Garry's doll are pale green, right? I like purple and all, but I like green even more! See? This doll's wearing a green shirt, too!" Mary pointed to the creepy doll standing next to her. "Isn't she cute? Even Kiara said she was cute earlier! Remember?" she asked as the doll bounced up and down excitedly even though Kiara remembered no such thing. "…So? Wanna trade?"

Kiara and Garry looked at each other, both feeling conflicting emotions. She couldn't possibly ask Garry to take such a risk! Instead she simply stared at him silently with a lost look on her face.

Garry met her gaze with a grunt. "Don't look at me like that…" he muttered. He was silent for a moment before sighing and turning back to Mary. "Understood. Please give me Kiara's doll in exchange for mine," he said in a somber tone.

"Really? You sure?" Mary stared at him in surprise.

"Yes…" Garry answered, removing his doll from his coat pocket and walking towards Mary.

_No!_ Kiara wailed in her mind. She wanted to say something to stop him but something felt like it was constricting her body and vocal cords.

"Heehee…Yay!" Mary smiled as she received Garry's doll. "Pretty pretty dolly…" Suddenly her expression turned wicked. "Ahahaha!" she laughed maniacally before taking off down the room, vanishing after a moment.

Garry watched her go in silence before heading towards Kiara and kneeling in front of her. "Be careful with it…" he told her gently as he returned her doll.

Kiara blankly took the doll from him, unable to meet his gaze. She felt like she was about to cry. "I'm sorry…" she said no louder than a whisper.

Garry chuckled. "Why are you apologizing? You didn't do anything wrong," he promised. "So don't look so down! And my doll…well! We'll just catch Mary and get it back! Let's do our best! I know we're almost there!" he said surprisingly optimistically as he got to his feet again.

Kiara took Garry's hand again absentmindedly, clutching her doll tightly. Suddenly the lighting inside the toy box darkened a degree, and Kiara felt Garry stiffen.

"What's with these guys?! Be careful Kiara…" Garry growled as all the dormant creatures came to life. The dolls started walking towards them like the other doll had. The Duskull statues seemed to drag themselves across the ground, making scraping noises in the process. The Trevenant headed toward them just as they had before the first time Kiara and Garry had been ambushed.

Despite the current situation, Kiara didn't feel as scared as she'd normally be. For one, it wasn't hard for Garry to navigate through the bodies, since even though they were mobile now most of them didn't have a clear sense of direction. Not to mention Kiara's mind was focused on something else. She was more afraid of what Mary was going to do now that she practically held Garry's life in the palm of her hands.

Within moments Garry led Kiara to some crayon-drawn stairs and headed up them. None of the creatures in the toy box followed them up. Kiara found herself in a rather normal looking hallway that led to the left. In the distance, she heard a sickening rip.

"Loves me…"

Kiara and Garry took a few steps forward in the hallway, immediately spotting one of the arms of Garry's doll lying on the ground. In the distance, there was another rip followed by the sound of Mary's voice.

"Loves me not…"

Kiara flinched as she realized what was going on. Mary was using Garry's doll to play that game she had told her about before! She quickly picked up the doll's limb and continued down the hall, spotting the doll's other arm lying on the ground as well. As she picked it up, she heard yet another rip and Mary's voice again.

"Loves me…"

Kiara turned her attention to Garry as the tall man took his hand away from Kiara's and placed the palms onto his knees. His breathing had gotten rather rough. He was silent for a long time before sadly looking up at Kiara. "Kiara, um…Sorry, but…could you go ahead? I'm….uh…I'm sorry…I don't know what to say…" he said awkwardly. "…I don't want to lie to you…But I…don't want to tell the truth either…If you need help…I'll come running…Go on…ahead," he told her, seeming as if event the effort to speak was too great for him.

Kiara looked at Garry's weakening figure in confusion. "Don't worry Garry! I know you're in pain, so you just rest here! I'll get your doll back from Mary and fix it! Oh, here!" she gently tucked her doll into his coat pocket where his doll used to be. "Take care of mine for me until I come back! I'll be back in a flash! Promise," she vowed as she quickly whipped around and headed down the hallway once more. Towards the end, she spotted the doll's leg on the ground and scooped it up. She turned her attention to the right, where there were more crayon-stairs. She could hear another rip and Mary's voice coming from that direction.

"Loves me not…"

Kiara suddenly heard a thud behind her and turned her attention back to Garry. She saw him collapsed on the ground now and fought the urge to go back and help him. She'd be wasting precious time she needed to get his doll back. Quickly, she turned back around and headed up the stairs. She heard Mary's voice and the ripping sound more frequently now. As Kiara reached the top of the stairs, she immediately saw Mary and took a step back. She carefully peered around the wall to look at her as she realized this was the same room that had held the toy box, though it had changed. Where there was once the toy box was now a doorway that was blocked by green crayon-drawn thorns with yellow crayon-drawn roses attached. Kiara turned her attention back to Mary, who was still ripping apart Garry's doll.

"Loves me…Loves me not…Loves me…Loves me not…" Mary said to herself as she tore off pieces of the torso and dropped them on the ground around her. Finally, she ripped the head off whatever was left of the torso and dropped them both to the ground. "_Loves_ me! Ahah! Yay…Now I can…!" Kiara couldn't hear Mary's last words as she went charging out the door.

_No!_ Kiara ran out of her cover and into the mess leftover by Mary's little game. "E-Everything fine! I can fix this!" she stammered nervously and gathered up as much of the remains as she could, making sure to grab the important parts. Then, as quickly as she could, she exited the house, stumbling down the pink crayon-path back into the section where the pink cube house sat. She recalled there being a sewing machine there that she and Garry had decided to save. She was glad they had saved it or else…The thought vanished from her mind as she spotted the back of the house.

Upon reaching the section, she immediately staggered to the front of the building where the sewing machine still sat unused. Kiara shoved the pieces of Garry's doll underneath the tube all at once. "Come on, come on!" she snapped as the normally fast process to fix a doll seemed to take forever. After what felt like ages, the sewing machine spat Garry's doll back out as if it had never been torn apart. "Yes!" she cheered with triumph as she retrieved the toy. However, she noticed something different about it. The doll's mouth was in a frown now. She ignored the feeling creeping up her spine as she held the doll close to her and rushed back down the path to the house again.

Even though she was going as fast as she could, Kiara felt like it took forever for her to return to the crayon-stairs and back into the hallway where she had left Garry. Panting, she slowed her pace, spotting Garry now sitting against the wall with his head hung and his eyes shut. _He's just sleeping cause he's in pain…_ Kiara reassured herself as she reached Garry and knelt down next to him. "Hey Garry…I'm back…" she nudged him lightly. "You can wake up now. You're doll's all better, see!" she placed his doll next to him, but its ominous frown still gave her an anxious feeling. "Garry? Garry, wake up!" she said a bit louder, nudging more roughly but simply knocking his limp body over from its sitting position.

Kiara felt herself go pale. _No…I can't be too late…_ "Garry, please, you gotta get up…I-I don't remember anything anymore…You're all I have left…Please Garry, I don't wanna be alone!" Tears started to stream down her cheeks as her voice cracked. "You promised we'd get out together…So I'm not going anywhere until you wake up! Oh, why'd you have to give her your doll?!" she sobbed, her body convulsing in the process. _I should've been the one to take all this pain…_ she thought with a sniffle, placing herself next to Garry's rather cold body and curling up next to it. _So cold…I think I'll just rest here…_


	10. Chapter Nine

Garry slowly blinked his eyes open upon darkness. He felt oddly groggy and numb. "Ugh…Where am I?" he muttered, gazing around to find himself floating in nothingness. He couldn't remember much besides Mary taking his doll and tearing it up until the pain was too much for him to handle and he fell unconscious. His eyes suddenly widened in alarm. _Am I dead?_ "Kiara!" he called out into the darkness, only to hear his echo as a response. _No…It can't be…You can't die in a dream…_ he insisted, trying to convince himself of that but even now he was having his doubts.

"_Hello Garry…_" A deep, maleficent voice rumbled through the darkness suddenly.

Garry flinched, spinning around to try and find the source of the voice, but it seemed to echo all around him. "Who's there?" he called. "Show yourself!"

"_As you wish…_" the voice sneered. Soon after, the entire area seemed to shake as a figure appeared, much, much larger than the young man. It was hazy at first, until its features cleared up, revealing Darkrai.

"Darkrai!" Garry exclaimed in shock and fury. If the pitch-black Pokémon had appeared, he had a good idea what that meant. "What do you want?" he growled, though on the inside he was quivering with fear.

Darkrai snorted. "Such courage for one so vulnerable. A wonderful soul for me to consume. Haven't you realized it yet, Garry? Your time is up. My little Mary has given me a succulent soul, even if I have to give up hers in order to get yours. I tried so hard to keep her here, but people seem to dislike my world…Quite a shame, really. No matter. It's too bad, you know. Your soul will simply vanish from existence this way. There will be no afterlife for you to go to, no reincarnation, nothing…But there isn't a bit of sympathy inside me for me to care. Goodbye, Garry," there was mocking in his tone as his pitch-black claws reached out for Garry.

"No!" Garry wailed, trying to escape as the claws grasped his body. "Let me go!" he roared, struggling to free himself of Darkrai's grasp. He found himself exhausted within moments, as if already the pitch-black Pokémon was beginning to suck the remaining life out of him.

Darkrai laughed maniacally as he watched Garry flail helplessly. As he slowly consumed the soul, wanting to watch the tall man suffer, he suddenly halted. He gazed around in confusion as he spotted an orb of light spiraling towards him. "W-What? Get away from here!" he snarled, removing one hand from Garry's body and trying to swat away the orb like a pesky fly. "Stupid light! I should've never let you into my world! You're not worth the trouble!" he spat, his eyes widening as the orb skillfully dodged his claws and headed right towards his chest. No! he roared in protest as the orb exploded upon impact with his body. His cries of agony continued as he let go of Garry completely.

Garry was stunned with shock as he felt his energy return to him and saw Darkrai's being dissolve like dust in front of him. He had no idea what had arrived to save him, but he was grateful either way. "Thank you!" he called out to the orb of light as it slowly flew off into the darkness now that the threat had been eliminated. For some reason, Garry's body started to feel heavy, and it was a struggle to keep his eyes open. He felt himself slip into unconsciousness a moment later.

Garry's eyes flew open, his body shivering. _Why am I so cold?_ he thought in confusion, his eyes adjusting to his environment. He was in the hallway he had last seen before going unconscious after Mary had stolen his doll, laying against the wall. He pushed himself up a bit until he felt a strong source of warmth next to his torso. He gazed down to see Kiara curled up next to him, sleeping. He relished the heat radiating off her, quickly turning his own body temperature back to normal. "Hey Kiara, wake up," he said gently, running his hand through her hair and rubbing her head. He sat up so that he was sitting against the wall, but was careful not to bump into the girl next to him.

After a moment, Kiara stirred, letting out a yawn and blinking her eyes drowsily. She sat up, rubbing her eyes slowly. However, as soon as she spotted a glimpse of Garry, her eyes widened in disbelief and a bit of happiness. Within moments she was crying as she shoved herself into the young man's chest. "Garry! Y-You're not dead!" she croaked, her hands gripping his shirt tightly.

Garry smiled slightly before tightly embracing the girl. "I'm sorry I scared you like that," he apologized quietly, stroking her head in comfort.

Kiara continued to sob into his chest for a few moments before abruptly pulling back. She glared at Garry furiously. "Don't you ever do that again! Don't give your doll to anyone! I thought I was going to lose the only friend I could remember…" she snapped at him before trailing off sadly.

Garry blinked, realizing that Kiara's memory was probably nearly gone just like his own. "Don't worry. I promise I won't leave you alone as long as we remain here. Even after we get out, I'll make sure to protect you, while making sure you don't end up scared like you were either," he vowed, brushing the girl's hair out of her face.

"Good," Kiara snorted, staring at the ground as she rubbed her teary eyes. She let out a sigh, falling onto Garry's chest again in exhaustion. "Even though I slept, I'm still tired," she mumbled.

"I know, but we can't rest here. We have to keep searching for the exit. Besides, Mary's probably still lurking around here somewhere," Garry reminded her, removing Kiara from his chest and placing her on the ground, rising to his feet. "C'mon, I know we just have to be close by now! Not even Mary will stop us," he grinned, extending out a hand to help the girl up.

Kiara blinked at him before nodding determinedly, accepting his help and rising to her feet. "Oh, here's your doll by the way. I got it back from Mary after she tore it up, then I fixed it," she explained scooping his doll off the ground and handing it to him.

Garry nodded with gratitude and took the toy from her, motioning to place it back into his coat pocket when he felt his hand brush up against a different object. He glanced down to see Kiara's doll sitting there. He vaguely remembered her putting it there since it probably happened when he was slipping into unconsciousness. He quickly removed it and replaced it with his own doll before returning the doll to Kiara. "There you go," he smiled.

Kiara took her doll from him with a smile in return before grabbing his hand. "We have to go this way," she told him, pointing towards the end of the hallway.

Garry nodded, allowing the girl to lead them as they continued on. He soon spotted crayon-stairs leading upward, which Kiara led them to. As soon as they entered the next room, the young man gazed around it curiously. It didn't contain anything besides a door on the opposite wall blocked off by green crayon-drawn thorns with yellow flowers attached. He glanced to his right, where there was another door. Overall, this room looked somewhat familiar.

"This is the room that had the toy box in it, remember?" Kiara explained, as if reading his thoughts.

Garry nodded slowly, his memory of the previous events returning to him. However, any other memories that didn't take place in this world were gone. He tried to recall even a flicker of his life, but nothing came to mind. He had no idea what kind of life he would be returning to, but at this point anything was better than remaining here. He began to take the lead, heading over to the door blocked off by the thorns. "Wonder what's behind here?" he mumbled, half to himself.

"Hm…" Kiara said as she stood next to Garry. "Think your lighter could burn them?" she asked with a tilt of her head.

Garry hadn't thought of that. He reached into his pocket, pulling out the lighter. "Maybe…Hopefully it still burns, even though it's kind of made of crayon residue," he grunted, switching the device on and placing the flame next to the thorns. Almost immediately they lit up, the sound of swishing flames erupting as the crayon-drawn thorns burned to nothing. "Easier than I expected…" he muttered uncomfortably. "Well, let's see what's inside then."

Hand-in-hand, the two opened the door and entered the room. It was black with pink crayon-lines used to show where the walls met. The room stretched out ahead of them, empty except for some stuff at the end. Garry began to lead the way forward until he suddenly halted as he heard the slam of the door behind them.

"Huh…? Kiara? Garry? You're both okay?" It was Mary standing in the room with them now. She looked utterly shocked to see them both alive.

_She did try to kill me… _Garry thought begrudgingly. He put on a calm composure and took a step forward. "Mary…"

"What are you doing here?!" Mary interrupted, fury coming off her like sparks of a fire. "Get out!" she snapped.

Garry's eyes widened as he saw Mary pull out her palette knife. He quickly removed his coat and threw it over Kiara's head. "Go hide!" he ordered urgently.

"But—"

"Go!" Garry snapped, shoving the girl towards the wall as he began to feel the room shake beneath his feet. He turned his attention back to Mary and flinched upon seeing a large amount of dark energy flowing off her.

"**_LEAVE!_**" Mary roared, lifting her head up sharply to reveal her eyes a demonic red color. She charged towards the young man, palette knife pointed outward.

Garry dove swiftly out of the way, making sure not to fall forward. The girl was much faster than he had expected, but she was still just a young girl. Her moves were uncoordinated and unskillful, much to his advantage. However, he was still weaponless. Swerving out of the way as Mary charged again, he headed towards the end of the room where he had seen scattered objects earlier.

Garry kicked the miscellaneous drawings and books aside, trying to find something useful. However, this only seemed to add salt to the wound as Mary's rage got stronger.

"Stop that!" Mary screeched. "That's _my_ stuff!"

Garry ignored her, his eyes brightening as he spotted a glass bottle on the ground. As he picked it up, he found it was full of some type of black liquid. He didn't have time to dwell on what it was as he waited for Mary to get close enough before smashing the bottle over her head. He quickly dashed out of the way, accidentally bumping into Kiara, who was curled up on the ground with Garry's coat covering her.

"Ugh!" Mary hissed, pausing from her chase for a moment as she saw her hair, skin, and clothes soaked in this strange liquid. "I'll get you for this!" she spat furiously, beginning to charge towards the two.

"Garry!" Kiara's voice suddenly drew the young man's attention to him, where the girl was urgently holding out his lighter.

Garry stared at it in confusion before realizing what she was getting at. The black liquid was oil! He quickly snatched the lighter from her, turning his attention back to Mary, who was getting ever closer. _There's no other option!_ he insisted before switching the lighter on and launching it towards the spirit girl. He then dove down, holding Kiara close to him and burying her face in his chest.

The sound of flames igniting erupted around them as the oil on Mary burst into flames. Garry flinched at the girl's screeches of agony and fury. "No! No! Stop! Help!" she wailed helplessly, her frantic footsteps echoing through his ears.

For a moment, Garry felt sorry for what he had done. _She would've killed us if we hadn't killed her…_ he insisted, feeling Kiara shake in his grasp as Mary's wails began to die down. _Poor kid…She shouldn't have had to experience all this so young…_ he thought pitifully, hugging her tightly.

*As soon as Garry was certain Mary was no more, he slowly pulled away from Kiara and looked around the room. Everything was quiet. He turned his attention to where he had last seen Mary and blinked in surprise when he saw only ash where she had once stood. He got to his feet, deciding to quickly examine what Mary had claimed to be "her stuff." It certainly looked like some type of child's room. The drawings were all made of crayon like the rest of this area. The books seemed to be fairytale stories, minus one book that Garry spotted titled "How to Make Friends."

_She must've been really lonely… _he thought sympathetically. _Well Mary…I hope you're in a better place now_, he told her silently, wherever she was now. He still wondered why there had been a bottle of oil just sitting around here, but he pushed the thought out of his mind and returned to where Kiara still sat with his coat. "Hey, you alright?" he asked gently, getting gown on one knee in front of the girl.

Kiara blinked her violet eyes at him. "I'm okay…" she mumbled quietly, lowering her gaze before her eyes suddenly widened. "Garry…Your hand…"

Garry blinked in confusion, following Kiara's gaze down to the back of his right hand. There was a gash that was still bleeding there that he hadn't noticed. "Hm…I probably cut it when one of those glass shards from the bottle went flying," he chuckled a bit with a shrug.

"Here," Garry looked up to see Kiara handing him a white lace handkerchief.

"Oh, why thank you Kiara," Garry said gratefully, accepting the cloth. "Ah, I feel bad. It was so nice and even had your name on it," he mumbled as he pressed it against his wound, staining the white with his blood. He tied the handkerchief around his hand so it could act like a bandage. "Well, I'll just have to clean it and give it back to your once we get out of here!" he grinned down at her.

Kiara blinked in surprise, as if not expecting his bright mood after what had happened just moments ago. She smiled brightly in return. "Yeah! We'll get out of here! Nothing can stop us now!" she cheered.

Garry smiled in return, glad to see a sincere smile on the girl's face for the first time. He rose to his feet, extending a hand out to her. "C'mon, let's get out of here."


	11. Chapter Ten

"You still got the key?" Kiara asked as she stood in front of the pink crayon-building with Garry. The two had left the house where Mary had been defeated after Kiara had returned Garry's coat. After that, they were back in the area with pink crayon paths and headed to the last place they could go.

Garry checked his coat pocket for a moment before pulling out the pink key. "Yep!" he grinned before it soon vanished into thin air, followed by a click coming from the door. He turned the crayon-knob and opened the door, holding it up for Kiara. "Ladies first," he said politely.

"Why thank you kind sir!" Kiara giggled, curtsying before entering the building. She blinked in surprise to see everything back to normal and no longer crayon-drawn. _That's a good sign!_ Now that Mary was out of the picture, Kiara felt strangely confident. Sure, they didn't know what lay ahead, but she knew that they had to be close to the exit by now. Whatever happened now, they would pull through together.

Garry shut the door behind them, his eyes widening in surprise as he also seemed to notice their environment return to normal. He stared past Kiara, and she followed his gaze to see a dimly lit staircase ahead leading down. The tall man took the girl's hand again and began to lead the way down the steps. "It's dark…Watch your step Kiara," he warned.

Kiara let out a grunt of acknowledgement as she headed down the stairs, holding Garry's hand in her own. She bumped into his back as he suddenly halted, but it was too dark to see what he was doing. She heard the click of a door opening as the staircase was lit up by the familiar gloominess of the ominous forest.

"Looks like we're back to square one…" Garry sighed, exiting the building and stepping aside to allow Kiara to exit as well.

Kiara looked back to see a gray plaster building as Garry shut the door behind them. She couldn't help but sigh as well. There wasn't anywhere else to go but forward, and all she could do was hope her predictions were right and that the exit wasn't far now.

Garry led the way down the path through the forest, which was still as silent as it had been. The rhythm of their footsteps was the only sound in the area. There weren't even any signs or ghost Pokémon around.

_Maybe that means we're leaving them behind and getting closer to reality…_ Kiara thought optimistically as Garry suddenly halted.

"You hear that?" he whispered.

Kiara blinked in confusion before listening carefully around her. She then heard what Garry was talking about. It was a strange sound, kind of like rushing wind, but different. It was coming from up ahead where a clearing was starting to open up. She followed Garry as he led the way into the clearing, her eyes widening in disbelief at what she saw. At the opposite end of the clearing was a white vortex, which also appeared to be the source of that strange sound. Next to it was a wooden sign with writing on it. She followed Garry's hesitant lead towards the two things, beginning to read the writing on the sign out loud. "'In order to remember, you have to forget…'"

"Wonder what that means…" Garry mumbled before staring intently at the vortex.

Kiara thought for a moment before sudden realization hit her. "Our memories…I think it's telling us if we want to remember our old lives, we have to forget something else…"

"But what?" Garry questioned in confusion, returning his gaze to the girl.

"Well…Think about it. This was all just a dream in a way, right? Normally you forget your dreams once you wake up…What if we have to forget this dream in order to remember everything else?" Kiara asked, all the pieces starting to fit together.

"Forget the dream? But that means we won't remember meeting each other!" Garry argued. However, before Kiara could reply, a large rumbled sounded from the vortex. Though it was huge, it was starting to shrink. "The portal! Kiara, I have a feeling this is our way out of here…There's no time to think about our memories! C'mon!" he growled, positioning himself in front of the vortex before suddenly leaping inside. However, he still lingered inside and turned back to Kiara. "Let's go!" he called, his voice nearly drowned out by the noises bouncing off the portal.

Kiara nodded, shaking nervously. _I can do this! I've faced worse in this dream_, she told herself determinedly. Bracing herself for the leap, she halted abruptly as she heard stomping behind her. She turned around in confusion to see a figure walking towards her. She squinted as she tried to make it out as it stomped closer. Her eyes widened a she recognized someone vaguely familiar. "Mama?"

The parent Pokémon had entered the clearing, everything about her suddenly becoming as clear as day. "Hello, my dear," she rumbled.

Kiara blinked in shock as all her memories of Kangaskhan suddenly flowed into her mind in an instant. "W-What are you doing here?" she stammered in bewilderment.

The girl hardly heard Garry's voice behind her. "Kiara, what are you doing?" he snapped. "Come on!"

"I came looking for you dear. That right there isn't the exit. Come with me and I'll show you the real way out," Kangaskhan began to turn her body back down the path, beckoning the girl to her side.

Kiara hesitated. "But, Garry…" she glanced back to the white vortex, where the young man stood as it got ever smaller.

"Kiara, I promise it isn't scary! You can do this! I'll be here to catch you!" Garry insisted in a gentle but urgent tone.

Kangaskhan turned to face Kiara fully again, a glare on her mug. "Kiara, what did I tell you about talking to strange men? Do you never want to see your mother again?" she snarled threateningly.

"Kiara!" Garry and Kangaskhan called at the same time, their voices ringing through the girl's ears.

Kiara gazed frantically between the two. She stared intently at the parent Pokémon, backing away from her. This wasn't her mother. The real Kangaskhan would never speak in such a harsh tone like that. "Garry!" she wailed, whipping around and sprinting to the vortex, which was barely bigger than her now. She heard a roar of protest as she dived into Garry's waiting arms and the vortex closed completely. "Garry…" she whimpered, hugging him close.

Garry hugged her just as close, planting a kiss on her forehead. "Shh…It's alright now. We're safe," he promised soothingly.

Kiara shook for a moment longer before calming down, turning her head to look at their environment. The two were floating in whiteness, nothing at all around them. "Where are we…?" she asked quietly.

Before Garry could answer, she suddenly felt something pulling her out of his grasp. "G-Garry? No, Garry!" she wailed, fighting to get back to him.

"Calm down, it's okay!" Garry insisted. "I think it's time for us to go back to our bodies and wake up," he explained gently.

"But I want to stay with you! I still don't remember anything about my life!" Kiara protested.

"Don't worry! Just have faith that everything will work out for the best. Here," Garry stretched out his hand, his pinky poking out. "I promise we'll see each other again one day."

Kiara blinked slowly before stretching out, intertwining her pinky with his. "Promise," she agreed, feeling a large amount of grief as she felt herself being pulled farther away from the young man. She blinked again, suddenly finding herself floating somewhere else in the whiteness. Garry's hazy figure was a few feet away from her. Ahead of her, Kiara squinted to see outlines of people that seemed oddly familiar. There were two bulky ones and several tiny ones surrounding them. The closest outline wasn't much bigger than her and there was a smaller outline next to it.

"Hm…" Kiara grumbled, struggling to remember. She knew whoever these outlines were, they were from her old life. The memories were there…She knew it…She just had to remember. "Ugh…" she grunted, squinting at the nearest outline. Slowly, she started to see faint features appear until it suddenly hit her. "Wolf!" she exclaimed happily.

The outline nodded, fully turning into the boy whom Kiara called her friend. The outline next to him turned into Vulpix, and all the other outlines behind them revealed themselves as well.

Kiara smiled broadly as she recognized them all. Kangaskhan, Darmanitan, and all the baby Pokémon she had befriended. "My friends…" she breathed, blinking in confusion as she saw something out of the corner of her eye fading away. "Garry?" she called out sorrowfully.

"Don't worry," the young man told her. "You might forget about me…But with our promise, I can come back!" he grinned, glancing down at this pinky.

"A promise is a promise!" Kiara smiled at him.

"Til then, I'll be in your heart," Garry vowed with a smile in return.

"That's right," Kiara nodded. "Forgotten, but not lost."


	12. Epilogue

Kiara slowly blinked her eyes open, her vision blurred. She could hear the rustle of the trees in the wind as well as birdsong. The girl let out a massive yawn, rubbing her eyes as she sat up to try to clear them. She felt unusually groggy and her body felt like it weighed much more than normal. _What was I doing…?_ she thought in bewilderment, blinking down to see herself sitting in a pile of leaves. _Sleeping…?_ She let out another yawn, shakily rising to her feet before stretching. She staggered a bit as she took her first steps, as if she hadn't used her legs in a while. She opened up her mouth to call to Wolf, but her throat was so dry that only a crackle came out.

_Weird…Am I sick? I've never felt like this when waking up before…_ Kiara thought, gazing around at the clearing she was in before spotting a bowl full of water next to the pile of leaves. Oh. She bent down and scooped it up, relishing the water trickling down her throat as she drank it all within a few gulps. "Wolf?" she called out after clearing her throat.

The girl didn't see any sign of the boy nearby. "Where is he?" she mumbled quietly. She exited the clearing and pushed her way through the undergrowth. She wished she could climb a tree to get a better look around, but Kiara still felt too unsteady to do so. Suddenly she heard the familiar voice of her friend not far ahead.

"I don't know what to do anymore Vulpix…We've tried everything and she still won't wake up!" Wolf was muttering up ahead.

"Wolf?" Kiara called again, pushing her way into another clearing. She soon spotted the boy and the shiny fox Pokémon sitting together against a tree. Both their heads immediately lifted up in disbelief as they stared at the girl with wide eyes.

"Kiara!" Wolf exclaimed, scrambling to his feet and rushing over to her. "You're awake!"

"I am," Kiara blinked simply, confused as to why they were surprised by this.

Wolf and Vulpix exchanged a glance before looking at Kiara with serious gazes. "You were asleep for a week…" he murmured.

Kiara's eyes widened. "A week? How could you let me sleep that long!" she gasped.

"We tried to wake you up after the first couple of days, but nothing would work. Water, a shock from Raichu, roughly nudging you…You wouldn't even budge. You looked like you were having a nightmare…Could you tell us what you dreamed about?" Wolf asked quietly.

Kiara stared at him in shock for a moment as he explained the situation before blinking slowly. She tried to recall her dream, but nothing came to mind. "I-I don't remember…" she mumbled, shoving her hands in her skirt pockets uncomfortably. She blinked in surprise as she felt something brush against her fingers. She grabbed the object and pulled it out, discovering that it was a piece of candy. She stared at it in utter bafflement.

"Where'd you get that?" Wolf asked as he stared at it curiously.

"I'm not sure…" Kiara mumbled. "You want it?" she asked, holding out towards him.

"Sure," Wolf said as he took the candy from her, unwrapping it and popping it into his mouth. "So you really don't remember anything?" he asked as he chewed on the treat, receiving a shake of Kiara's head as a response. "Well, alright…Now what do we do?"

"I'm hungry," Kiara grunted as soon as the words were out of his mouth.

"Okay. I stocked some berries while you were asleep," Wolf said as he swallowed the candy. "C'mon, I'll show you," he turned away, beckoning for Kiara to follow. "I am glad you're okay now though…Let's hope it doesn't happen again when you go to bed," he muttered.

Kiara let out a grunt of agreement, trotting after the boy as the fact that she had slept for a week straight soon started to vanish from her mind. It was now filled with new worries of how the two children would survive without their loving mother to protect them. _We'll make it_, she thought certainly. _I just know it._


	13. Alternate Ending

_**(The events of this one-shot take place after Chapter Eight.)**_

A chill running down Kiara's spine woke her from her slumber. For once in this strange world, she actually felt tired even though she was certain her doll wasn't damaged in the slightest. The girl blinked her eyes open slowly, though they widened in alarm as she was met with Garry's pale face. It took her a few moments to realize what had happened. _Garry still hasn't woken up…_ She could feel a lump in her throat slowly forming as realization pricked her like a needle pressing into her skin. It wasn't necessarily warm in this hallway, and not a hint of body heat was radiating off his unmoving form. Garry wasn't going to wake up no matter how long she waited…

Kiara felt lost for a moment. What would she do now? Get out by herself? _No._ There was no point, no motivation. After all, getting out with Garry had kept her moving forward. He had constantly encouraged her, but without him, it didn't feel the same. However, she remembered the pink key they had found in the toy box. It wouldn't hurt to see where it led to. What else was she going to do while she was here if she had no intention of finding the exit?

As Kiara carefully reached into Garry's coat pocket and retrieved the key, she couldn't help but wonder how long she had slept there. Then again, she wasn't even sure how time worked in this place. The girl spotted her doll sitting in Garry's pocket as well as she pulled the key out. After a moment of inner debating, she decided to just leave it behind. She wished the stupid toy had never been traded…Sighing, she shook her head sorrowfully. It meant nothing to her. The Mega Gengar could rip it apart for all she cared.

Kiara slowly rose to her feet, still feeling exhausted. Nonchalantly she started forward, making her way down the hall, around the corner and up the crayon-drawn steps leisurely. Whatever creatures lurked in the shadows, even Mary, she didn't care if she met with them again. If she didn't intend to leave this world, she would have to stay and deal with them, right? _Right._ It wasn't long before the girl was in the room that held the toy box. She completely bypassed the doorway blocked by crayon-drawn thorns and exited the house.

Kiara closed the door behind her, staring out into the darkness all over, only broken by the bright pink crayon paths in this odd part of the nightmare world. She took a deep breath, swallowing down the imaginary lump in her throat before stepping forward to where she knew the small, cube pink house was. She continued on in the silence of the atmosphere until she spotted the building up ahead through the darkness. She walked around it until she was on the side with the door on it. In turn she put the key into the doorknob, unlocking the door with a click. She blinked in surprise as the key broke as she tried to pull it out from the keyhole. However, as long as she could open the door now, it made no difference to her.

Kiara blinked, her eyes adjusting to the pitch blackness before her. She was confused for a bit as she noticed that the inside of this building looked normal and no longer pulled out of a child's sketchbook. She had gotten used to everything looking so abnormal. The girl shrugged, focusing in on the fact that she could just barely make out a staircase leading downwards. Carefully she started heading down, feeling her way forward before every step. A few moments later she felt something solid meet her foot as she tried to take another step. Feeling the solid item blocking her path, her hand eventually met with a doorknob, which she in turn attempted to use to open the obvious door in front of her. The automatic click revealed that it wasn't locked, and as she stepped out into the open world she found herself in the oh so familiar ominous forest.

The door automatically swung shut once Kiara was fully outside. She glanced back to see that the building behind her was made of pale grey plaster. Though she felt overwhelmingly confused, she didn't bother questioning the illusions of this world. Instead she turned her attention to the single path in front of her, leading into the unknown. There was really nowhere else to go, so she followed it mindlessly.

Kiara was just beginning to be aware of the numb feeling that had settled over her body when she halted in her tracks, hearing something she had never heard before. Normally in these forests everything was silent, but she actually heard rustling in the undergrowth to her right. She turned towards it, her usual fear suppressed by her confusion and slight curiosity.

The foliage that held the source of the sound seemed to be transforming. They pulled apart, slowly but surely forming a dirt path in place of the thick, impassable undergrowth that had been there only moments ago. The roots of the trees had pulled up from the ground, snagging low-lying bushes with them as they moved aside, fanning their branches up and out of the way. Once the sudden change had been completed, all was silent once again.

Kiara started down the path for several moments without moving. She half expected random writing in dripping pant to perhaps suddenly appear on the trunks of one of the trees, but nothing happened. Instead, she was somewhat stunned when she started to hear a deep, crackled voice echo through her head.

_Come Kiara…You look so weary. Why not take a rest? It will surely ale you of the grief that hangs over your head like a dark cloud…You can sleep forever, and forget this whole thing ever happened. After all, that is what you wished for, isn't it?_ The voice spoke in a mellow tone, though it seemed to be calling to the girl from the new pathway that had opened up.

Kiara didn't know what to make of these words, or who they were even coming from. It couldn't be any of the ghost-type Pokémon or the dolls, or even Mary. _Darkrai?_ she wondered, gazing around at the tops of the trees as if she expected the pitch-black Pokémon to appear before her. If it was him, she understood exactly what was going on. He was trying to get her to give in, to give up her life and remain in this world like Mary. _Why shouldn't I?_ she thought, tears rolling down her check slowly, though she was half unaware of their presence. She had no recollection of her old life, so therefore she could assume she had no life. The one thing she cared about, Garry, had been snatched away in moments. Now she had nothing left to fight for. The girl returned her gaze to the path ahead, swallowing down the reformed lump and letting it sit like a rock in her stomach. Numbly she started walking forward, only half conscious that the trees were whispering her name quietly, ominously welcoming her forward.

Kiara could feel her energy drain the more she progressed. Perhaps one of the monsters had found her doll and was sucking the stuffing out of it like jam out of a jelly doughnut. Whatever was happening to her body and her life, she didn't care anymore. _Maybe this way, I can see Garry again…Then we could be together forever, without anyone else, without anything scary to harm us… _the very idea of such a thing filled the girl with bliss. That small hope made her pace quicken, wanting to meet her end as soon as she could.

After what felt like ages, Kiara stopped in a clearing. She noticed that the leaves were flowing and dancing all around, as if somehow the nonexistent wind had picked up and started a celebration for the fake nature of this world. She slowly gazed around, looking for something, anything she could, to help her rest for all eternity. She was heavily disappointed when it seemed that this clearing was empty, and there was nowhere else for her to wander to. "Do you want my soul or not?!" Kiara screeched into the howling wind above her. "Tell me what to do, I don't want it anymore!" she wailed, panting as her tears started flowing more heavily. "How can I be left in the dark when I've already been consumed by the void?" she whimpered.

Kiara flinched as she heard something rustling up ahead, causing her head to jerk towards it. Was she finally going to meet with her salvation? However, the girl was bewildered more than anything as she spotted what appeared to be a huge ruby or other red gem pushing through the undergrowth and into the clearing. Was it just walking by itself? _No._ Kiara could just barely see the purple paws and feet of a Sableye carrying it towards her. The girl waited, watching as the large red gem was set in front of her. She took into account that the Sableye before her was huge, bigger than her, and the gems in its eyes were red like the ruby on the ground before her.

The darkness Pokémon didn't seem hostile or enraged in the slightest. In fact, it almost looked somewhat at ease or relaxed. As the creature spoke, its voice cracked like Darkrai's but sounded more high-pitched. "Rest here, little one," Sableye croaked, gesturing to the ruby it had placed on the ground.

Kiara's eyes followed its gesture, a wave of relief washing over her. "Thank you very much," she mumbled softly, blinking her moist, violet orbs at it gratefully before slowly climbing onto the gem and curling up on it.

As she closed her eyes, Kiara had expected the rare stone to feel cold. However, in contrast it was actually warm and was radiating off waves of heat. It was almost comforting. As the wind continued to howl around her, causing the leaves to dance and sing, the girl felt herself dozing off into a deep slumber, the celebration around her silencing as her mind muted it off. _Garry…I'll be with you soon, I'm sure…_

Kiara, though aware of the fact that she was asleep, felt odd. All she saw was darkness, but she could vaguely hear voices that were progressively getting louder, and they sounded oddly familiar.

"Happy Anniversary!" a group cheered. Their specific voices were too mingled to make out, but Kiara was certain some of the cheers weren't human speech.

"I can't believe it's been four years already!" a young girl piped up.

_That voice…_ Kiara was stunned as she recognized it. That was her own voice! But what was going on? An anniversary? Were these her forgotten memories?

The voices around her continued their conversation. "Yes, time does fly, doesn't it?" a female voice rumbled. "To celebrate, I got you both gifts!" she continued excitedly.

_Who is that?_ Kiara thought in confusion. She was certain that she knew who it was, but neither a face nor a name came to mind no matter how hard she tried to remember.

"Oh, Mama, you shouldn't have! We didn't even get you anything!" Kiara argued modestly, but beneath it she retained some excitement in her tone.

_Mama!_ The mention of her name brought back all of Kiara's memories of Kangaskhan. Not only the parent Pokémon, but everything, all her memories came back to her at once. She even remembered this very special day. If she remembered correctly, then she thought she knew what would happen next…

"Oh, don't be silly dear. My beautiful children deserve recognition of how appreciated they are in this family," Kangaskhan insisted with a snort. "Now, Wolf, you first. Here."

"Mama, where did you get this?" the voice of her childhood friend sounded shocked. Though she couldn't see it, Kiara knew that her mother had just given him several dollar bills.

"Don't worry about where I got it. Just know that with this money you can get a haircut in Morningdew City. Your hair is so overgrown, I'm surprised a Pidgey hasn't nested in it!" she chuckled, causing a roar of amused giggles to start.

Wolf chuckled as well, and Kiara imagined him running his hand through his black hair. "Well, thank you Mama. This is really great," he told her gratefully.

"You're welcome dear," Kangaskhan replied, most likely with a warm smile. "Come here, Kiara, I have something special for you," Kiara imagined the parent Pokémon beckoning her closer while she reached into the pouch on her stomach. "There you go dear. Please take good care of it, and always think of me when you use it," she told her softly.

"Wow, Mama. This is amazing! I love it so much. Thank you!" Kiara exclaimed, knowing that she had hugged her mother lovingly then. Presently Kiara also knew what her mother had given her. It was her lace handkerchief, the one with her name sewn on it. She still had it sitting in her skirt pocket…

Realization hit the girl suddenly. What was she doing here? Her family and life was still out there! She couldn't give up, not now. She had to wake up and get out of here, for Garry and her family. His sacrifice shouldn't have been for nothing.

Kiara made an attempt to open her eyes and get up, but she couldn't. In fact, moving at all sent an abnormal amount of pain surging through her body. _No!_ She had to wake up! She had to escape! "Darkrai, let me go! Stop!" she wailed into the darkness, struggling in the invisible grip that held her. The more she struggled, the quicker her energy vanished from her body. It felt like so many sharp objects were piercing into her body at different places. Even if she stopped struggling, she could feel herself getting more and more jaded. "No…" her voice was frail and weak as she used her last bit of strength to fight in vain.

_Too late…Your time is up._ Kiara could recognize what she assumed to be Darkrai's voice, echoing menacingly through her head.

As Kiara's body grew weaker and weaker, she could hear Darkrai's maniacal laugh resonating through her very soul. It was the last sound she heard as her mind and body fell into the true despair of never-ending darkness and utter silence.

Wolf chewed quietly on an Oran Berry as he sat against the bare trunk of a large oak. He couldn't help but think about his sleeping friend as he ate her favorite fruit. It was a struggle to swallow at the thought of her. Why wouldn't she wake up? It had been about a week now…He was truly concerned, even if he did leave Raichu and Vulpix to keep watch while he took some time on his own to get fresher air than that in the clearing where she slept. Letting out a sigh, the boy let his unfinished berry slip out of his hand and onto the forest ground as he got to his feet. He had to check on her again. Maybe this time something will have changed.

The usual blissful nature air and soothing sound of the wind whispering through the tops of the trees did nothing to ease Wolf's anxieties. In fact, he felt as if something just wasn't right. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he had a terrible feeling hanging over his head. He found that his pace had quickened with urgency and the need to see Kiara sleeping there, even if she hadn't woken up yet.

Wolf was startled by a sudden barking up ahead. He halted in his tracks as he watched the undergrowth in his path rustle and shake until Vulpix popped out before him.

"Vulpix?" Wolf stared at his partner in confusion. "What are you doing here? What's wrong?" he asked quickly, a feeling of dread swamping over him.

"Pix, Vulpix!" Vulpix barked urgently. Even Wolf could tell that there was fear in his tone and posture. The fox Pokémon nodded in the direction of the clearing in which their friend slept before taking off back in the direction he had come.

Wolf made no hesitation in running after him. Part of him hoped that maybe Kiara had woken up and that Vulpix was calling him to come see her, but he had an awful feeling that wasn't the case. In fact he wished the negativity flashing through his mind would vanish. Kiara had to be okay, she just had to!

Wolf and Vulpix burst into the clearing, panting heavily from their sprint. The first thing that caught the boy's attention was Raichu using a Thunderbolt attack on Kiara's body while he cried desperately. "R-Raichu? What are you doing?" he gasped in a startled tone. Was he trying to wake her up with a stronger bolt of electricity? But why did he seem so desperate about it all of a sudden? "Raichu, stop!" he exclaimed, rushing over to his friend's side.

Wolf crouched down next to Kiara's limp body as the mouse Pokémon stopped shocking her. Her body was just having the static wear off, but otherwise she seemed unaffected. Still, something wasn't right about the way she slept…

"Vulpix," the shiny fire-type stepped up next to Wolf, pointing with a forepaw towards Kiara's chest.

Wolf's eyes followed the gesture, confused as to what his partner was pointing to at first. However, as he looked closer he noticed something that made his heart drop. Her chest wasn't rising and falling as she breathed. "Kiara?" he gasped, leaning over and pressing his ear against her upper body where her heart would be. Not only was there a lack of movement, confirming that his eyes weren't just playing tricks on him, but he couldn't hear even a faint heartbeat. "N-No…" the word choked out of the boy's throat as he lifted his head up to look down on the unconscious girl. Was she…? No, this couldn't be happening again. Someone else he cared about couldn't leave him like this like his father did! "Raichu, shock her again. Don't stop until she wakes up!" he wailed, feeling tears leave his eyes and roll down his cheeks.

Raichu was also teary-eyed but didn't object as once again he used his Thunderbolt attack on the girl. "Chuu…" Wolf noticed that even his spirit wasn't as strong as his strikes. He imagined he had been doing this for quite some time, losing all hope and being consumed by despair. Eventually the mouse Pokémon stopped his onslaught, and Wolf knew it wasn't from lack of energy.

"No…" Wolf whimpered, scooping Kiara's lifeless body into his arms. "Kiara…Kiara…I know you were sad, but why did you have to leave me too? Why did you do it? Why...?" his voice was shallow and barely more than a whisper. As he felt Vulpix press up against his back to comfort his grief, he became aware of how warm it was compared to the stone-cold girl in his arms. Sniffling, Wolf embraced his friend's body tightly. "Kiara…"

Mary walked along quickly through the silence in the ominous forests which she had grown so accustomed to. This was it. It would only be a little farther now until she reached the portal, the way out of this lonely world. She would be with real people again, and experience things like snow and syrup and flowers and all things _alive_ and _bright_. She had to move fast before Darkrai realized what she was doing. Luckily for her, the monsters in this world and Big Brother would hold him off for as long as they could to buy her time.

The spirit girl just couldn't contain her excitement, however. It was a true struggle not to sprint to the finish, for if she did, Darkrai would surely notice that she was up to something. She had walked down this path many a time to the dead end empty clearing. After all, the portal only opened for a short time every time someone new entered Darkrai's world of nightmares. In the past the pitch-black Pokémon had always consumed the soul before she could make it to the vortex and escape. However, with two people here, she could keep him busy long enough with Garry's soul that she could make it out before he even touched Kiara. She couldn't help but wonder if the other girl had already made it out…Perhaps it would be too late for her to escape yet again…Mary shook her head to clear it of her doubts. She had to at least try, or she would regret it heavily later on for sure.

The spirit girl stopped in her tracks in confusion at the intersection of the main path and another side one. Another path? She had traveled this way more times than she could count, and it had always been a straight shot to the end. She was certain of it. _Then what's this path doing here?_ she thought in bewilderment. Should she even waste time thinking about it? She was so close to the end, the exit, her salvation…But her curiosity was too great to ignore. She would just make a quick detour before heading on her way again. She wouldn't take long at all.

Mary walked down the path, gazing around at it with her big blue eyes. It seemed recently made, perhaps only moments ago if she thought so herself. The spirit girl was astonished as the further she traveled, she could hear something flowing and whispering through the tops of the trees. What was it? It also sent the edge of her dress ruffling slightly and small chills down her spine. Never in all her time here had she experienced anything like this.

As Mary entered a clearing, whatever was blowing through the undergrowth made it seem like some beast was howling in the skies above. She certainly wasn't used to the silence and stillness of the forest being broken so severely like this. She gazed around, watching the trees swish back and forth. It almost seemed like they were dancing happily. _But why?_ The spirit girl lowered her gaze, her eyes widening as she spotted a Mega Sableye standing silently next to its red gem, though it wasn't in his hands. Instead, it was lying on the ground in front of him, and it looked like something was on top of it…

Mary walked forward to get a better look. For a moment she had almost forgotten about escaping, but this was just too uncanny to ignore. She would just investigate quickly and move on her way. However, as she got a closer view on the large ruby, she couldn't help but gasp at what she saw. Kiara was lying across the valuable stone, and it seemed like thorn-covered vines had erupted from the earth, wrapping around the girl and the gem and tying them to the ground. "K-Kiara…" she mumbled, kneeling down next to the trapped child. She flinched as she noticed that she must've tried to escape, but the many thorns had pierced her body in the process, ripping through her clothes and staining them with blood. The spirit girl wasn't even sure if she was breathing.

Mary was stunned to a silence. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew Kiara would die if she didn't escape because of her attachment to Garry, but it was still so surreal to see her here…dead. She had an aching feeling that Darkrai didn't fully consume her either. It wouldn't be long now until Kiara became like herself, a wandering soul lost in this world… "K-Kiara, I'm…I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen," the spirit girl sobbed quietly. "No one should have to be trapped here alone, no one. I won't escape today. I'll stay here with you, and we can get out together once more people arrive!" she promised, though her words were choked with grief. "Don't worry…We'll never be alone as long as we have each other. Together, you and I will have fun and play lots of games with our other friends! I'll make sure you have the best time here that you possibly can…Then, you and I will be together forever," Mary murmured softly as she kept her eyes focused on Kiara's blood-stained corpse.

_ FOREVER…_

**ENDING: Welcome to Darkrai's World of Nightmares**


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